Lucknow Lawyers Stage Road Sit-In Over Chamber Demolition

Lucknow, October 25: A group of lawyers in Lucknow held a road protest on Sunday, objecting to the municipal corporation's move to demolish over 200 chambers used by legal professionals.

According to the report, the demolition is being carried out on the basis of a High Court order. Police and administrative officials arrived at the site on the same day to begin the work. The lawyers responded by sitting down on the road and starting a protest.

Their central demand is simple: before their chambers are removed, they want an alternative arrangement that will allow them to keep practising.

Advocate Balram Jakhar criticised the authorities for acting high-handedly. "They are doing as they please. Provide us an alternative first, and only then break the chambers. Around 2,000 lawyers are affected. Diwali is such a big festival, yet we have been kept in the dark. How can a government function this way? It is behaving like thugs. Our chambers are being taken away in front of our eyes. How can we bear this?"

He voiced disappointment at the absence of any alternative. "The administration is focused only on breaking the chambers and is not trying to provide us with any choice. Either break us or put us in jail, and then destroy our chambers. If not, we will oppose this strongly."

Jakhar stated that lawyers would not allow the demolition to proceed and would take every possible step to stop it. He also claimed that officials and police were attempting to push the protesting lawyers away from the location. "They are trying to suppress us," he said.

He further warned that if the chambers were demolished, lawyers would be compelled to practise on the roads, which is why they had already taken to the streets.

Acknowledging that the action follows the High Court's directive, he said, "We respect the court's orders, but there should have been a way forward."

"Everything is being done arbitrarily, and no one is ready to hear our concerns. We are lawyers, not goons or mafia who can be treated like this. We are an essential section of society that helps ensure people get justice," he said.

A similar controversy had earlier erupted in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, where an illegal mosque inside the Collectorate complex was demolished after the court rejected the Muslim side's appeal.