NEW DELHI | Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Delhi State President Saurabh Bharadwaj has appealed to all lawyers to unite against police brutality and the government’s arrogance. He said lawyers were on strike following the beating of lawyers by police at Shahdara police station. The lawyers noted that the police had accepted bribes in exchange for not arresting the accused. Instead of registering a case against the Station House Officer (SHO), the police registered an FIR against the lawyers themselves.
AAP Delhi unit chief Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “This reminds me of an incident when journalists demanded that an FIR be registered against ACP Vivek Bhagat in a molestation case. Instead, the police later registered an FIR against the journalist for making caste-based remarks against the ACP. The Bar Council should have raised its voice at that time. Even today, the Bar Council must stand up for justice, because lawyers also led our freedom movement.”
Saurabh Bharadwaj further said that all lawyers in Delhi were on strike today, abd saiThe issue is that some lawyers went inside Shahdara police station because they said the police had taken money and released the accused. The lawyers say they were assaulted by the police inside the station, and instead of acting on their complaint, the ACP registered an FIR against the lawyers themselves. This is what has angered the lawyers.”
The AAP Delhi Unit Chief continued, “I have studied law myself, and there have been many lawyers in my family since my grandfather’s time. That is why I have a special bond with the legal fraternity. With that sense of belonging, I want to tell my lawyer brothers and sisters that a few days ago, reports emerged that an ACP-rank police officer had misbehaved with and molested a woman journalist who was covering a protest.”
“Journalists sat outside the police station throughout the night for two days, demanding that an FIR be registered. However, the police did not register the FIR, and the Modi government stood by the police,” he added.
Saurabh Bharadwaj further highlighted, “When the journalists were preparing to approach the court because no FIR had been registered, the police filed a false FIR against the woman journalist, claiming that she had hurled caste-based abuses at an ACP-rank officer. Is that even possible? I believe that, at the time, the Bar Councils associated with Delhi’s various district courts should have stood up for that woman journalist.”
He asserted that it was a very serious matter, and some lawyers did come forward, but the Bar Associations and the Bar Council remained largely silent. “It is unfortunate that such an incident could take place in the national capital while the legal fraternity remained silent. Today, the same thing has happened to lawyers themselves,” he said.
Saurabh Bharadwaj said the Aam Aadmi Party stood firmly with the lawyers. “It was our government that, for the first time, provided lawyers with medical and life insurance, which also helped them during the COVID-19 pandemic. We stand with lawyers on this issue today as well,” he said.
He added, “I want to appeal to all my lawyer brothers and sisters that lawyers have made a major contribution to the country, from the freedom struggle to the present day. Whenever people have taken to the streets against any government, lawyers have led them and supported their struggle. However, this has not been seen in recent years. This is weakening the fraternity of lawyers, and that very weakness has brought us to a point where lawyers are being beaten inside police stations and the police are filing cases against them instead.”
Saurabh Bharadwaj said the situation was exactly like an incident a few years ago when lawyers and police clashed, and the entire media portrayed the police as heroes and the lawyers as villains. “During the Gen-Z protests, too, the media portrayed the police as heroes and turned the 18- and 19-year-old children of our own country into villains,” he stated.
Saurabh Bharadwaj urged lawyers to wake up and take action, warning that the struggle would not be strengthened if they remained inactive. “Lawyers must stand alongside the country’s young people in their struggle and the Aam Aadmi Party stand firmly with them,” he concluded.
