Lawyer-cops clash finally claims DIG

In the biggest casualty for the UP police in the lawyer-police clash on September 3 in Lucknow, the decks have been cleared for the transfer...

In the biggest casualty for the UP police in the lawyer-police clash on September 3 in Lucknow, the decks have been cleared for the transfer of Deputy Inspector General (Lucknow Range) Jagmohan Yadav.

The EC in New Delhi gave its consent to the UP government to transfer Yadav today. Action is now expected in a day or two, sources say.

Under pressure from lawyers, who wanted the DIG removed for leading the September 3 lathicharge, the state had decided to transfer Yadav, but had to wait for the EC nod due to the code of conduct in place for next month’s bypoll.

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While the lawyer-police clash started from a minor collision between a lawyer’s car and an Army truck, it had blown up when more than 50 lawyers, including president of Awadh Bar Association advocate Ashok Nigam, were injured in the police action on protesting lawyers. Angry lawyers had brought Lucknow to a halt on September 3, and gone on an indefinite strike.

While CM Mulayam Singh Yadav had ordered a judicial inquiry by a retired Supreme Court judge—the report is still pending—the lawyers had been adamant on the transfer of DIG Yadav. ‘‘DIG Yadav had ordered the lathicharge on the lawyers, and even said that if given 15 minutes, he would teach the entire lawyer community a lesson,’’ Central Bar Association president Shivsaran Upadhyaya says. DIG Yadav, who had told The Indian Express that he would abide by the government’s decision, had been up for promotion before the incident.