Black ribbons, Constitution reading: Delhi High Court lawyers protest police action against peers

Scores of advocates and senior advocates gathered on the Delhi High Court lawns on Monday afternoon to read out the Preamble of the Constitution, resolving to "reiterate what we adopted, enacted and gave to ourselves -- this Constitution".

The gathering came a day after the Delhi High Court Bar Association (DHCBA) asked its members to wear black ribbons during court appearances on Monday to protest against alleged police excesses against members of the legal fraternity during the anti-SIR protest.

Lawyers began gathering near the lawns around 1.30 pm, with several young lawyers joined by senior advocates, including Rajshekhar Rao, Warisha Farasat and Diya Kapur.

The gathering was largely impromptu, though an "appeal" message had circulated in WhatsApp groups earlier in the day, it is learnt. The message also said the Lawyers' Association for Constitution was extending its support by planning to read the Preamble at 1.30 pm as an expression of solidarity.

By 1.39, senior advocate Rajshekhar Rao recited a poem, reiterating the principles enshrined in the Preamble. "The Constitution that we had resolved, it appears as if it stands dissolved...," Rao recited, closing his recitation to cheers, applause and a refrain of 'well said' among the lawyers gathered.

This was then followed by a reading of the Preamble by those assembled, drowning out the feeble voices of nearly a half dozen other lawyers who instead chose to sing 'Vande Mataram' right beside the gathering.

As more lawyers arrived, those gathered read out the Preamble a second time, by 1.52 pm.

Also present at the gathering was advocate Swaty Singh Malik, who was captured in footage recorded by The Indian Express Hindi on October 10 when police officers attempted to detain her and push her into a police van as she tried to walk towards Jantar Mantar.

Malik said she had left the Supreme Court carrying a poster of the Constitution and was stopped by the police at Mandi House and pushed into a bus. When the bus broke down, she got off and continued walking.

She was holding a copy of the Preamble, which she alleged the police had snatched and torn. As officers tried to push her into the van, Malik was seen resisting and asking, "I am standing alone... I am going to my car, why should I go with them (police) in their car like this?"

Bar Association condemns police action

On Sunday, the Delhi High Court Bar Association (DHCBA) had requested its members to wear black ribbons during court appearances on Monday to register their protest against police excesses against the legal fraternity during the protest demanding Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar's resignation over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.

The Association had condemned the detention of several lawyers and the alleged use of excessive force by police against people who attempted to take part in the protest.

Expressing its strongest disapproval of the excessive and disproportionate use of force against the protesting lawyers, including women advocates, it said, "Video footage that has surfaced depicts lawyers, including Senior Advocates, being physically dragged by the police."

"Such high-handed and undignified treatment of members of the legal fraternity is wholly reprehensible and constitutes a grave affront to their dignity and constitutional rights," the DHCBA had stated.

On October 10, senior advocate Shadan Farasat was detained after being allegedly roughed up -- his shirt torn in the process -- and dragged by the Delhi Police. Farasat has been representing petitioners before the Supreme Court challenging the SIR process.

Senior advocate Dinesh Dwivedi -- whose elder brother Rakesh Dwivedi represented the Election Commission of India in the SIR matter -- was also among the detainees.