T-Lawyer Attempts To Burn Himself

An agitating pro-Telangana advocate, on Thursday, created a flutter in the state High Court by threatening to immolate himself in support of the demands of 42% reservation in judiciary posts for people from the Telangana region.

Advocate G V Gupta's act, of climbing the main gate and then sprinkling petrol over himself before other lawyers stopped him, led to tension in the High Court.

The act seemingly galvanised the protesting lawyers into more slogan-shouting against the government's 'indifferent' attitude to find a solution to the 4-day old boycott of work.

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Bandaru Dattatreya, who was on a visit to the Court to express his solidarity with the lawyers at the time of the incident, said that the government would be blamed if the situation gets out of hand, as the protests are growing more stringent.

Earlier, the agitating lawyers, as part of their protest, stormed the Chamber of Justice C V Nagarjuna Reddy and damaged chairs, books and the podium. They demanded that Justice C V Nagarjuna Reddy boycott duties and extend moral support to their agitation.

The protesting lawyers also sought the resignation of Advocate General D V Seetharama Murthy.

Justice T Meena Kumari tried to bring some order to the situation by making frantic appeals to the protesting lawyers not to damage property and make their demands in a peaceful manner.

Traffic on the road was disrupted due to prevailing tension at the court.

Meanwhile, the Telangana Joint Action committee has called lawyers in Telangana region to boycott courts until the government makes its stand on the quota issue clear.

The JAC also extended solidarity to the 3 advocates — S Satyam Reddy, G Jyothikiran and Vijay Kumar Goud - who have been on a fast since Monday near the Advocate General's office.

The government said that a 3-member Cabinet Sub-Committee with ministers Geetha Reddy, M Venkatramana and P Ramachandra Reddy is looking into the protesting lawyers' demands.

Courtesy: INN