More than 80,000 lawyers abstain from work in Gujarat

Over 80,000 lawyers across Gujarat abstained from work today in response to a call given by the Bar Council of India (BCI) to protest against the recent killing of an advocate by police in Allahabad court premises.

Around 1,600 lawyers practise in the Gujarat High Court while more than 15,000 lawyers in the city are affiliated to five different bar associations of lower courts.

"To support the BCI's call and to condemn the ghastly killing of a lawyer in Allahabad, all 1,600 regular lawyers of the Gujarat High Court abstained from work today. Similarly, around 15,000 lawyers of lower courts in the city and around 80,000 lawyers across the entire state of Gujarat stayed away from courts," senior High Court lawyer Yatin Oza said.

As part of the protest, lawyers of the Ahmedabad Rural Court burned an effigy of the cop who allegedly killed the lawyer in Allahabad, the president of the Ahmedabad District Bar Association Rajesh Parekh said.