Chennai: The city police booked several lawyers for protesting outside the Madras High Court’s North Gate on NSC Bose road on Monday, besides arresting five of them during the small hours of Tuesday.
Apprehending the arrest might escalate further protests from advocates who are already at loggerheads with the High Court judges over the amendment to the Advocates Act, the additional security cover provided by the local police to the principal bench of the HC was retained on Tuesday as well.
The arrest was initiated on a complaint based on a special report filed by A. Jayaram, Sub-Inspector, North Beach Police station and a case was registered subsequently at North Beach Police station.
The complaint was against as many as 29 lawyers whose names were known and several others who can be identified and were booked under section 147 (rioting), 143 (unlawful assembly), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), and 353 (use of assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) of Indian Penal Code (IPC), and under section 7(1)a of the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1932.
Subsequently, the advocates — identified as Karunakaran, vice-president, George Town Bar Association, Ashok Kumar, Kishore, Yasar Arafat, and Om Prakash — were arrested.
The arrested were produced before a metropolitan magistrate who ordered them to be placed under judicial custody.
Several police teams had fanned out across the city to locate 24 other advocates who were named in the complaint but to no avail. A group of advocates gheraoed the Esplanade Police station after the news of the arrest was out.
Sources said the city police had stepped up the security at the residence of Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul on Dr DGS Dinakaran Salai.
