In support of their demand of arresting of the accused in the suicide case of a lawyer of Meerut in which BJP MLA from Hastinapur Dinesh Khatik was also named, lawyers of 22 districts in western UP have decided to lock the courts in these districts on March 4.

Lawyers of Meerut have been agitating for the past 15 days to pursue their demand of the arresting of the accused in the suicide case of a senior lawyer Omkar Tomar who was also the General Secretary of Bar Association in Meerut. The accused include BJP MLA from Hastinapur Dinesh Khatik whose name was also mentioned by the deceased lawyer in his suicide note, claimed the sources.

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Tomar had committed suicide on February 13 at his residence in Ishapuram Colony of Ganga Nagar police station but the lawyers had to surround the Ganga Nagar police station and jam the Delhi-Pauri highway for more than 7 hours to get their FIR lodged. Since then police action is still awaited.

Meerut Bar Àssociation’s Secretary Sachin Choudhary said that on this issue a meeting of lawyers was held here on Monday in which it was decided that they would intensify the agitation to push hard their demand of arresting of the accused in the case.

He informed that the courts would be locked in all 22 districts of western UP on March 4 and judicial work would not be allowed to be done on that day. Protests would be done at the kutchery (court) gates on that day he said adding that Lok Adalats would also not be allowed to function in different districts.

“Lok Adalats takes place on different dates in different districts and in Meerut it is scheduled on March 6,” said Chaudhary adding that the lawyers of the respective district would ensure that Lok Adalats are not allowed to function as per the schedule there.

Deceased lawyer Omkar Tomar’s son was married to a girl from Khatauli town of district Muzaffarnagar in the month of February last year. But the marriage could not last long and the couple was separated only a few months later. The girl lodged a case of dowry against the lawyer’s son and family members. MLA Dinesh Khatik was a mediator in this case for settlement. He is charged with harassing and humiliating the lawyer due to which he allegedly committed suicide.

Since then the lawyers have been demanding immediate arresting of the accused including the MLA. They are also sitting on a relay hunger strike inside the premises of the district magistrate office for the past 13 days demanding the arrests. The lawyers had taken out a march to ADG (zone) office and handed over a memorandum to ADG Rajeev Sabharwal. They also formed a human chain at the city’s busiest Begum Bridge crossing after taking out a peaceful march last week.