Delhi HC judge transfer: Allahabad HC bar body to go on indefinite strike from Tuesday
Lucknow/Prayagraj (UP), Mar 24 (PTI): The Allahabad High Court Bar Association on Monday announced that it will go on an indefinite strike from March 25 to protest the proposed repatriation of Delhi High Court Justice Yashwant Varma to his parent court.
The announcement came after the Supreme Court Collegium confirmed its decision to recommend the transfer of Justice Varma, who is facing an inquiry over alleged discovery of a large sum of cash from his official residence in Delhi.
"Lawyers of the High Court Bar Association, Allahabad will go on an indefinite strike from Tuesday... (over) Justice Yashwant Varma's (proposed) transfer to the Allahabad High Court," bar association president Anil Tiwari told PTI.
"We are also sending a request to bar associations in Lucknow in this regard," he said.
After passing a resolution to this effect during the lunch hours of the court, the lawyers abstained from judicial work for the remaining day.
Addressing reporters after an emergency meeting of the association in the evening, Tiwari said, "The association will fight this issue till the end. The Supreme Court has judicial powers but we have public support."
He said, "22 organisations have given us a letter of support against the transfer of Justice Yashwant Varma. Today, the Supreme Court has confirmed the decision of transfer in the meeting of the collegium. This (emergency) meeting was held in view of the Supreme Court administration's decision of transfer."
Tiwari said the lawyers of the Allahabad High Court Bar Association will only resume work after the Supreme Court withdraws its decision.
"Today this battle is being fought by lawyers in India and till the next resolution, the advocates will not work and we are ready to face any kind of consequences. Even if we have to sacrifice our lives to save the judiciary, we are ready to do so... If we have to go to jail, we are ready for that too," he said.
He further said that lawyers will take to the streets on Tuesday.
"The entire democracy is being put at stake to save a judge. We appeal to the government to intervene in this matter," he added.
The bar association also demanded scrutiny of judgments delivered by Justice Varma.
The cash was found at Justice Varma's Lutyens' Delhi residence following a fire on March 14.
The Supreme Court Collegium headed by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and the Delhi High Court subsequently issued a series of directives, including the withdrawal of judicial work from Justice Varma on Monday.
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Gurugram Police arrest BJP Yuva Morcha member for spreading fake murder story on social media
New Delhi: Gurugram Police have arrested BJP Yuva Morcha member Hariom Mishra, for allegedly spreading a fabricated and communally sensitive story on social media about the murder of a college student in Gurugram.
Mishra who is also known as Shaurya Mishra had shared a collage of four photographs on his X handle earlier this month. He claimed that a 24-year-old college student, identified as Nikita Agarwal, had been murdered by her classmate Arif Khan in Gurugram. In the post, he alleged that the woman was blackmailed, forced into prostitution, gangraped, and eventually killed. He also claimed that Arif dumped her body in a forest. The claims were presented as being based on police sources.
The post went viral and garnering over 1.5 lakh views, and was amplified by several right-wing social media handles across X, Facebook and Instagram. A verification of the claims revealed that no such incident had taken place in Gurugram. A search of credible news reports showed no record of any such murder. The police said this news would have inevitably attracted media attention if it were true.
On December 11, Gurugram Police publicly refuted the claims through their official X handle. They stated that the information which was being circulated was completely false. The police warned that legal action would be taken against those spreading misinformation. Despite the warning, Mishra neither deleted the post nor issued any clarification.
Police in Gurugram confirmed Mishra's arrest on December 16. The police said a FIR was filed after he continued to spread false information about the alleged murder of a Hindu woman by Muslim man. Police said Mishra, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Kaushambi district, is now being investigated.
Gurugram Police spokesperson Sandeep Singh told The Print that the accused had deliberately misrepresented facts and used objectionable content to spread hatred along religious lines. “Such posts can create serious disturbances in society, and the police take these matters very seriously,” he said.
A reverse image search conducted by fact-checkers at Alt News, revealed that the photographs used in the viral post were unrelated to the claims, while two of the images were traced to a Pinterest account belonging to influencer Maulik Chopra and another image was sourced from an Instagram post by influencer Shivam Thakur featuring a woman named Deepanshi Rawat. The fourth image was found on an unrelated Instagram page. The images depicted different individuals and had no connection to any crime.
Police said they are also investigating Mishra’s motive behind sharing the false and provocative content.
