UP Lawyer Thrashed Over Legal Aid To Cleric Who "Opposed National Anthem"
GORAKHPUR: A group of lawyers allegedly beat up a fellow advocate on Thursday in Maharajganj for taking up a case involving a madrasa even as a local bar association expelled him and another colleague over the same issue.
The civil court bar association of Maharajganj district said it has ended the membership of the two lawyers for lifetime for giving legal help those accused of preventing children from singing the national anthem at the madrasa on Independence Day.
The bar association has also sent an application to the district judge for cancellation of the space allotted to both the advocates, the association president said.
No case has been filed so far but one of the two lawyers said he will approach the police for registration of a First Information Report or FIR on Friday.
On August 15, a cleric, Mohammad Junaid Ansari, who was not a staff member of Madrasa Arabia Ahle Girls College, situated in Badago area under Kolhui police station, allegedly prevented students from singing the national anthem after the flag-hoisting by madrasa principal Faizlurrehman.
After a video of the incident went viral on the social media, police arrested him and two other persons under Section 124-A (Sedition ), 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integrity), Prevention of Insult to National Honour Act 1971, Criminal Law Amendment Act and IT Act.
Protesting over the incident, the bar association of Maharajganj had decided that no advocate of the district will give legal aid to the accused.
"The decision was taken at a bar association meeting on August 18 for not giving legal aid to the accused, but two lawyers Manoj Singh and Mainuddin Ansari went against the decision for which their membership has been ended for lifetime," said Jagdish Patel, the president of the civil bar association, Maharajganj.
"A copy of the action against them has been sent to the Uttar Pradesh Bar association. An application has been sent to the district judge for the cancellation of allotment of sitting place of the two in the court campus," Patel said.
He, however, did not respond to questions regarding the beating up one of the lawyers by a mob.
Reacting to the bar association decision, Advocate Manoj Singh said everyone has the right to get legal aid and by representing the accused, he was doing his duty.
"It is a fundamental right of a person to get legal aid and I was just doing my duty. When a Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab could get legal aid, why couldn't they?" Mr Singh said.
He, however, said he was not informed about the bar association decision on not giving legal aid to the accused in the said case.
Mr Singh also claimed that a group of lawyers beat up Ansari for providing legal aid to an accused in the case.
"I was working inside the court so they (the lawyers) were not able to touch me but they have beaten Mainuddin Ansari for giving legal aid to another accused in the case. On Friday, after identifying all the lawyers, I will lodge an FIR," he said.
courtesy : ndtv.com
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
