Panel probing lathicharge on Agra lawyers summons Rajnath
Vijay Upadhyay
Agra. Justice Malviya commission, investigating the incident of the police lathicharge on lawyers in the Agra District Court, has served a showcause notice to former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh.
Asked to file a counter-affidavit within three weeks in reply to the notice, Mr Singh also has also been asked to appear before the commission fixing his liability as the Chief Minister of the State during the incident.
Notably, a large contingent of policemen had charged on a group of lawyers staging a demonstration in front of the Agra district court and had even entered the court premises pursuing the lawyers to their chambers and courtrooms.
This incident had resulted in the total shutdown of the legal machinery in the State for several weeks and the State Government, headed by Rajnath Singh as the Chief Minister, had to form a commission headed by Justice Giridhar Malviya to investigate the role of the police in this incident.
After dragging its feet for five years, the investigation has now picked up some pace with some Agra lawyers filing their affidavits regarding this incident recently.
Shortly after these affidavits were filed by the lawyers, the commission expressed the need to record the statements of Mr Rajnath Singh along with some Agra MLAs who have now been served notices to appear before the commission.
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