Lawyers boycott courts in Thiruvananthapuram in protest against alleged police assault on senior advocate

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Lawyers boycotted courts across Thiruvananthapuram district on Friday in protest against the City Police’s “failure” to suspend a traffic police officer, who allegedly assaulted K.P. Jayachandran, former Additional Advocate General and State president of the Indian Association of Lawyers.

Mr. Jayachandran, a former president of the Thiruvananthapuram Bar Association and a present member of the Kerala Bar Council, was allegedly assaulted by a senior civil police officer attached to the Thiruvananthapuram City Traffic Police near the Kerala Administrative Tribunal in Vanchiyoor on Thursday.

In his complaint, the lawyer claimed that the police officer was taking photos of all vehicles parked on the road side. When Mr. Jayachandran questioned the reason behind his action, the police officer purportedly assaulted him and hurled abuses at him.

However, the Vanchiyoor police maintained that there was no wrongdoing on the officer’s part. Nonetheless, the complaint was being examined. A case was yet to be registered, an official said.

A protest rally was organised under the leadership of the Thiruvananthapuram Bar Association at the Vanchiyoor Court complex. Association president G. Gopidas, vice- president Anitha Aji and other office-bearers of various organisations led the rally. They demanded the immediate suspension of the police officer. They also called for a departmental inquiry into the incident.

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