Thiruvananthapuram: The lawyers - media persons clash has brought into sharp focus the lack of preparedness on the part of government to handle crisis situation. The High Court incident which could have been resolved amicably right in the beginning, was allowed to snowball into a major law and order problem that spilled into the streets of Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram. Aftershocks were also felt in Kollam, Thrissur and Alappuzha.
So the big question is whether the issue could have been handled in a better way? Many believe that since the warring parties represented two powerful sections of society the judicial sector and media, as seen during such incidents in the past, the government was reluctant to deal with the situation effectively.
Many even questioned the inaction of the law enforcing agencies, since at many places including Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram the cops were either standing like silent spectators or intervening hesitatingly even in the face of stone pelting, physical assault and damaging of vehicles.
The police inaction was at its best during the violent incidents that took place at the court premises at Vanchiyoor on Thursday. While the incidents of violence began in the court premises in the morning and resurfaced at regular intervals during the day, the city police commissioner arrived at the scene only in the evening and the IG level officer came to the spot subsequently.
The locals at Vanchiyoor alleged that cops seemed very keen to remove the journalists who were protesting in front of the district court premises while allowing the lawyers to have a free run. The cops were reluctant to restrain the lawyers from throwing stones, tube lights, beer bottles and wooden logs at the protesting media persons.
Many believe that had the police acted tough, the violence could have been contained and the unruly incidents avoided. While the situation has come under control and normal court functioning is set to resume from Friday thanks to the intervention of Supreme Court and High Court, the state government will have to pull up its socks to deal with similar such situations in future.
