Lawyers have not taken too kindly to the indictment of 31 lawyers and a law student by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the violence that had hit the Madras High Court, on February 19, 2009. A week after the filing of the chargesheets, Madras lawyers are up in arms, and are on strike till February 27.

The violent clashes had started when the police had tried to arrest a group of advocates involved in the attack on Janata Party President, Subramanian Swamy. Some advocates demanded that Swamy also be arrested for casteist remarks against a lawyer.

Not only was Justice A.P. Adityan injured in the ensuing violence, but also had the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court lock himself up in his chambers. A chronology of events is mentioned in a petition filed by R. Vagai and other advocates.

A Commission chaired by Justice B.N. Srikrishna, was appointed to conduct a detailed enquiry into the sequence of events that led to the clashes. According to media channel CNN IBN, Justice Srikrishna, referring to the protesting lawyers as hooligans and miscreants, remarked in his report that they were given a free hand by the judges. Justice Srikrishna’s report apparently observed, “My view is that the soft-pedalling policy followed by the Madras High Court Judges has led to the present piquant situation.”

The Commission submitted its report within a month to the Supreme Court and the case was handed over to the CBI to investigate the matter. Last week, CBI filed 6 chargesheets before the Court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Egmore, Chennai against 31 lawyers, a law student and 5 policemen who were involved in the incident.

The strike which starts today and expected to end by Wednesday is one of the several strikes lawyers have held following the violence. Speaking to Bar & Bench, the President of Madras High Court Advocates Association, Paul Kanakaraj said, we are going on strike today and we will assume work on Wednesday. We will not keep quite, unless all culprits behind the violence are booked. Several policemen have been let off the hook, and some advocates have been charge-sheeted without any reason” he said.