Men in black

The stone-throwing,building-burning and fist-clashing in Madras High Court on February 19 achieved that rarity — lawyers speaking in one voice. The entire lawyer community,including different associations and the bar councils,joined together in demanding stern action against the police for its excesses. In their eyes,the month-long lawyer strike in Chennai,the attack on an “anti-LTTE” individual present in court by a group of lawyers,and the prevention of litigants from going to court — all were irrelevant; the main issue: simply “police brutality”. Despite repeated requests by the Supreme Court to get back to work,the lawyers refused to do so until the SC-appointed Srikrishna commission submitted its interim report on the violence.

Justice Srikrishna has just done so,but he’s unlikely to please the men in black. In an interim report submitted on Thursday,he squarely blames the lawyers for the initial arson,though he condemns the police reaction for “excess force” that “exceeded its limits”. In a direct counter to the demands that the officials involved be sacked,Justice Srikrishna instead recommends guidelines to regulate advocate behaviour. The interim report also criticises the Madras High Court chief justice for his “soft” attitude towards the advocates. The claim that the bench is far from neutral when dealing with the bar is a troubling one; Justice Srikrishna’s observations merit serious introspection.

While police violence on the high court premises is

unfortunate,the flagrant indiscipline of lawyers needs urgent attention. By doing precisely this in his interim report,Justice Srikrishna has buttressed his well-deserved reputation for integrity. Chennai’s lawyers must call off their strike,roll down their shirt-sleeves and get back to work immediately — inconveniencing Indian Tamil litigants is hardly the way to express solidarity with Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka. Justice Srikrishna’s final report will hopefully list out long-term suggestions for reform. Little action was taken on his previous reports though,whether on the Mumbai riots or the Sixth Pay Commission. Let’s hope he’s taken seriously this time round.