Lawyers8217; strike

NEW DELHI, April 23: A section of Tis Hazari Courts lawyers struck work today to protest against what they described as 8220;the callous attitude and inaction of the North West District police8221; over the murder of a fellow-lawyer.

Today8217;s action was the 13th by the Tis Hazari lawyers since April last year, giving them an astonishing strike-rate sic! of one per month. In the past 13 months, lawyers at Tis Hazari have struck work on issues ranging from sanitation and inadequate security in the court premises to the Delhi High Court8217;s move to inspect some sites for family courts and remarks made by sessions judge S.N. Dhingra against lawyers at a seminar.

Undeterred by the less-than-enthusiastic response by a sizeable section of their members, the Delhi Bar Association announced later in the evening that work at the 270 trial courts would be disrupted again tomorrow. Advocate V.K. Sharma was murdered two days ago in Loni. The police had found an unidentified body, and after Sharma8217;s family filed a missingperson8217;s report yesterday, they realised that it was his.

The family says that he went off with someone on a scooter and never returned.