Can\'t clap with one hand, both guilty: SC to lawyers in Tis Hazari clashes with cops

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday said that there were problems from both sides during the clashes between lawyers and police at Delhi’s Tis Hazari court. The court said that one cannot clap from one hand as Bar Council of India chairman Manan Mishra complained against alleged police brutality on November 2.

A bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and KM Joseph said: "There were problems from both sides. Nobody claps with one hand. We are silent for a reason. Nobody can say we acted in a certain way since they did that.”

The remarks were prompted during a hearing pertaining to a strike of lawyers in Odisha. The apex court had taken note of the strike and wanted assistance of the Bar Council. Attorney General KK Venugopal was also present during the hearing and cited the ongoing strikes in Delhi after the Tis Hazari violence.

Senior advocates Mishra and Vikas Singh, however, questioned the police action. They submitted police had opened fire at the lawyers and did not conduct them well.

Responding, Justice Kaul said: "It is better if we don't say anything. Sometimes our silence is good enough. There were problems from both sides. Nobody claps with one hand. We won't speak much."

The judge added: "This can never be an argument that you acted in a certain way because they acted like that."

Saturday's violence started with a fight over a parking spot. Around 1:20 pm, a policeman confronted three lawyers who had allegedly parked wrongly, and asked them to remove their car. Around 20 policemen and eight lawyers were injured in the violence. At least 20 motorcycles, including nine police vehicles, were vandalised.

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