Kerela lawyers move to court in support of Sub-inspector

Kozikodhe: As many as 100 Kerela lawyers, including few senior ones of Kerela High ourt have moved the court in support of police sub-inspector Vimodh who was suspended for preventing and abusing media persons trying to enter Kozikodhe court.

It was the first show of lawyers' solidarity against media. It was also unusual and in a way unprecedented .So many lawyers have not joined hands and moved the court against one person in the past.

The incident:

• The media-lawyer spat in Kolkata started after the media was banned from entering almost all courts in Kerala during last fifteen days, after there were reports of clashes in at least in three courts.
• Sub-inspector Vimodh was suspended on July 30th by the Police department and was booked under section 342, 323 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code. The sub-inspector approached the High Court and requested for rejecting the cases registered against him.

The case:

• P Vijaya Bhanu, a senior lawyer appointed by the Kerela High Court will represent the officer for the case.
• “I have taken up the case after other lawyers approached me and I will fight the case impartially. The on-going scuffle between lawyers and media persons has nothing to do with how we fight a case in court. I am only concerned whether an offence is committed or not,” he said.

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How did the tension start:

• The tension in the courts started after lawyers in Kerela took exception to certain media reports against government pleader Dhanesh Mathew Manjooran, who was accused by a woman of molesting her. The situation worsened after lawyers objected to media presence in court and journalists and sat on dharna in the HC.
• The media was banned by the High Court after Vanchiyoor court in Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam district court witnessed violent clashes between them and the lawyers.