Bar Council of India suspends 29 Odisha lawyers who resorted to vandalism during strike

The Bar Council of India (BCI) on Monday suspended the licences of 29 Odisha lawyers for 18 months for using un-parliamentary words to address judges, pushing and pulling the police officials and obstructing the court proceedings..Pertinently, the bar body also passed an interim order suspending licences of practice of all the members of Sambalpur District Bar Association (SDBA) until further orders. The 29 lawyers who have been suspended for 18 months are Sureswar Mishra, Shib Diwan, Pramod Saraf, Satyanaryan Purohit, Srikant Panigrahi, Himansu Panigrahi, Mahendra Badhei, Anup Taria, Silu Mahapatra, Satyanaryan Panda, Prabin Singhdeo, Rabi Pujhari, Suraj Biswal, Chandrakanta Mohanty, Nabin Satpathy, Saroj Sahu, Manoranjan Dash, Manas Mishra, Sameer Mahapatra, Bandita Mishra, Rajib Satpathy, Basanta Mishra, Minketan Bhoi, Ratan Agarwal, Bijetendra Pradhan, Suranjini Barik, Pradeep Bohidar, Babull Panda and Manoranjan Panda.Regarding the other members of Sambalpur District Bar Association who licences have been suspended in the interim, the BCI will take a final call after getting a report from the registrar as well as the State Bar Council.Hundreds of advocates, who are demanding a permanent bench of the Orissa High Court at Sambalpur, a district in western Orissa had resorted to violence and vandalism under their protests labelled as 'Satyagraha.'The BCI order came after video clips were brought to its notice, which showed the 'violent' protests of lawyers, who went to the extent of barging into courtrooms and damaging properties there."The video clearly discloses that almost all the lawyers practicing there (Males and Females) are badly indulged in shouting slogans, burning effigies of judges and office bearers of Bar Council of India and State Bar Council, entering in the court room and damaging the computer sets and other properties inside and outside the court rooms. The members of Sambalpur District Bar Association are also seen manhandling the police officers and personnel fighting and abusing them,"a statement issued by the BCI on Monday said. .Condemning the conduct, the BCI Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra suspended 29 of the striking advocates for a period of 18 months with immediate effect."The video clearly shows that the Members of SDBA have neither any respect for the BCI nor for the serious concern expressed by the Apex Court. The video is not only exceedingly disturbing, but, it is a matter of utter shame to the face of the institution and the BCI cannot tolerate such hooliganism and will never allow such advocates to continue in the noble profession," the BCI underlined..The BCI also sought details of other members of the SDBA apart from the above 29 names, so that their details could be circulated in courts, tribunals and other forums across India so as to disallow them from practising anywhere.