High Court permits to file petition against DGP

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Chennai: The Madras high court on Thursday permitted the office-bearers of Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and other leaders of advocates associations to file a petition against state DGP K Ramanujam after they alleged he abused them when they went to his office earlier in the day to report on an incident in Kanyakumari.
 
A division bench comprising acting chief Jus­tice R. K. Agrawal and Justice M. Sath­ian­ara­ya­nan told the agitated law­yers they would take up their complaint on Fri­day. S Prabakaran, pr­e­sident, Tamil Nadu Ad­vocates Association and D. Selvam, chairman of Bar Council of Tamil Nadu made a mention bef­ore the bench that in­stead of receiving and acting upon their representation, the DGP came out of his room and shouted at them saying advocates were ‘unruly people’. He then shut his door saying he would not allow them inside, they alleged.
 
Selvam told the court that they could summon the CCTV recording to verify the lawyers’ complaint that the DGP abused them instead of looking into their complaint, which rel­ated to a fracas bet­ween some lawyers and a hotel in Kanyakumari.
 
 A senior police officer present at the DGP office when the incident happened denied that Ramanujam was discourteous to the lawyers’ delegation. 
 
“About 70 advocates marched into the DGP office. We have a policy here; this is not a place for agitations and dharnas. A smaller group could have met the DGP but instead, about 20 lawyers marched up the stairs to the DGP chamber, ignoring the plea by the officers manning the reception on the ground floor to go in a smaller group.
 
The DGP came out of his room and asked them why they were mobbing his office instead of being orderly”, said the officer, requesting anonymity.
 
Another officer said this was not the first time that lawyers in large numbers marched into the DGP office to lodge com­plaints and make re­presentations.