Lawyers to launch two-day agitation

SURAT, JUNE 16: At a specially requisitioned general board meeting of the Surat District Bar Association SDBA held on Wednesday, member...

SURAT, JUNE 16: At a specially requisitioned general board meeting of the Surat District Bar Association SDBA held on Wednesday, member advocates decided to abstain from work for two days, on Thursday and Friday, to protest against the 8220;inefficiency of the police in tackling the Nita Satbhaya murder case8221;.

The meeting attended by almost all the 400 members held at the court hall, also passed an unanimous decision demanding the transfer of Detection of Crime Branch DCB PI M G Kaneriya, as the members claimed that he had proved inefficient in cracking the case.

8220;It was also decided in today8217;s meeting that the case be taken back from the DCB and be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation,8221; said SDBA president Ajay Desai. He, however, added that advocates will attend to urgent matters, thus ensuring that court proceedings were not thrown out of gear because of the agitation. The advocates will also meet next week to chalk out the further course of action.

The requisition meeting had been called after 36 members of the bar submitted letters calling for one. Advocates of the city district and sessions court have been agitating in phases since December 19, after municipal councillor and SMC law committee chairperson Nita Satbhaya was murdered allegedly by three people, who slit her throat at her residence.

The DCB, subsequently, arrested three people namely Chandrakant Kahar, Naresh Patel alias Naresh Naphtha and Kallu Dagga as accused in the case. However, all three were released on bail after the DCB failed to file a chargesheet in the case on the completion of the stipulated 90 days after their arrest. The lawyers have since expressed outrage over the inability of the police to file a chargesheet and demanding Kaneriya8217;s transfer.