HRPC Advocates protesting against Karunanidhi at the high court campus on 25.04.10
The police brutalities unleashed on advocates last year is still fresh in the public’s memory. The advocates were beaten up brutally for the whole day on February 19-th of last year, for merely protesting against the brahminical tout, Subramanyan Swami. Even judges were not spared in the brutal incident that happened in the High Court premises itself. The advocates are fighting against the police terrorism of that day undauntedly until this day. However, no action has been taken against the culpable police officers till date. A High Court order directing the government to initiate proceedings against the police was issued by judges Ibrahim Kalibullah and Banumathi. But, the Karunanidhi government remains unyielding.
In this backdrop, the Ambedkar statue at the High Court premises was supposed to be unveiled by the chief minister on April 25, 2010. The advocates declared that the chief minister who had failed to take action against the police should not attend the ceremony. Condemning the chief minister’s arrival, majority of the advocates boycotted the meeting. Two days prior to the meeting, advocates from the Human Rights Protection Council (HRPC) conducted a demonstration and distributed pamphlets, which said, “Karunanidhi, the protector of criminal police, go back!” Karunanidhi kept silent on all these developments and attended the event with fanfare.
In the ceremony, as Chief Minister Karunanidhi started talking, suddenly advocates from HRPC raised black flags and started raising slogans condemning the government that had failed to arrest the police who had attacked the advocates. Immediately, chairs and stones were thrown at these comrades by the henchmen of Babu, the DMK secretary of North Madras. These rowdies were wearing white shirts and black pants, disguising themselves as Advocates. They were brought into the meeting purposefully to attack dissenters if any. Hence, even as this gruesome attack continued for over 10 minutes right in front of the stage, the police simply watched and interestingly, the police lodged several false cases on these severely injured comrades.
Condemning this brutal attack and calling for the arrest of the DMK rowdies, several advocates demonstrated in the court premises on April 27. Following this, a meeting of several advocates happened on April 29 at YMCA hall, chennai. The meeting condemned the Karunanidhi government that continues to protect the police who attacked the advocates. It also condemned the DMK rowdies who attacked the advocates, who were protesting with black flags. Several eminent advocates from different parts of Tamil Nadu attended and spoke at this meeting, which was headed by Raju, the state secretary of HRPC. The meeting ended with resolutions condemning the brutal assault on dissenting rights and on HRPC advocates. It raised the question that whether we live under democracy or dictatorship, If this kind of atrocities can happen right before the eyes of the chief minister, ministers, and judges.
Courtesy: Puthiya Jananayagam, May 2010
