Bangalore has witnessed yet another shameful incident on Friday, involving the press, the police, lawyers and former minister for and mining baron, G. Janardhan Reddy. The cause of the incident, as reported, is the huge cache of media persons gathered outside the civil sessions court complex in Bangalore for providing live reports about the minister's further course of detention with the CBI unit in the city. The presence of the media, reportedly did not go well with the law community who were enraged when the former took pictures of the minister as he walked out of the court hall. A few of the "lawyers" are learned to have shouted obscenities against the journalists while others resorted to stone-pelting, thereby damaging the doors and windows of the court property ; clippings of advocates hurling helmets and stones or even bottles at the media persons ruled the TV channels on Friday. The police who were not prepared for the incident had a tough time controlling the unruly mob of advocates ; even before they could do something, a few movable properties in the surrounding vicinity were set on fire and subsequently the vandalism spread to the neighboring Government Arts College, where the advocates have beaten up the students as well. As if all these were insufficient, the lack of knowledge regarding the incident, as confessed by the Chief Minister D.V Sadananda Gowda and his "laid-back" attitude towards the incident in the early hours, at a time when his convoy was passing near the K.R Circle (hardly a kilometer from the court complex) has only added more fuel to the fire. That he promised a judicial probe into the incident and stringent action against the mischief-mongers did little to douse the fire as journalists from across the country had begun condemning the incident and the attitude of the Government, by then.
A day after the unruly incident, Bangalore Mirror's edition dated 3-March-2012, carried a headline saying that "Janardhana Reddy was the only man smiling on Friday". The newspapers and electronic media have repeatedly questioned the rationale behind the indecent conduct of the lawyers. What reason did the lawyers have to get intolerant over the presence of the media in the court premises when a former minister accused of illegal mining, was being handed over to the custody of an investigating agency? Why did they behave in a manner that was least expected of them? Why were the students of the neighboring college, who were in no way related to the minister or the media, dragged into the mess? These are some of the questions that arise.
Interestingly, several 4 wheelers registered from the Regional Transport Offices in Bellary district (KA 34 & KA 35) have been spotted in Ambedkar Veedhi (The road on which the court complex is located) and the court premises as well. This calls for a re-examining of the issue in greater detail as Bellary happens to be the home town of the ex-minister Janardhan Reddy. One needs to ascertain whether the anti-social elements who were responsible for the incident, belong to the Bangalore Advocates' Association or the Bellary Hoodlum Community (in the guise of advocates) as support in any form, from the people who had to elect the minister in the future elections would only leave him smiling.
The state government's decision to conduct a judicial probe into the incident is a welcome move but even before that, it would fully lawful and legal to recover the amount of damage caused to the court property from Mr Janaradhan Reddy himself. There is enough reason to believe that the people behind the acts of vandalism, were his supporters and hence in order to teach such indoctrinated people a lesson, it would be a sane idea to burn a hole in the pocket of their own leader. Also, to make sure that such acts are not repeated in the regard of him or someone else, the period of judicial custody for the minister should be further extended as it would curtail people from administering such ideas, in future. Lastly it has to be mentioned that though, the presence of his supporters from Bellary nearly explains all the incidents convincingly and logically, one cannot jump into conclusions before conducting a probe in a manner which is completely fair and just. Hence an honest investigation process is expected from the people concerned and the ones found guilty need to be severely punished as their act has dented the image of the city and the state.
A day after the unruly incident, Bangalore Mirror's edition dated 3-March-2012, carried a headline saying that "Janardhana Reddy was the only man smiling on Friday". The newspapers and electronic media have repeatedly questioned the rationale behind the indecent conduct of the lawyers. What reason did the lawyers have to get intolerant over the presence of the media in the court premises when a former minister accused of illegal mining, was being handed over to the custody of an investigating agency? Why did they behave in a manner that was least expected of them? Why were the students of the neighboring college, who were in no way related to the minister or the media, dragged into the mess? These are some of the questions that arise.
Interestingly, several 4 wheelers registered from the Regional Transport Offices in Bellary district (KA 34 & KA 35) have been spotted in Ambedkar Veedhi (The road on which the court complex is located) and the court premises as well. This calls for a re-examining of the issue in greater detail as Bellary happens to be the home town of the ex-minister Janardhan Reddy. One needs to ascertain whether the anti-social elements who were responsible for the incident, belong to the Bangalore Advocates' Association or the Bellary Hoodlum Community (in the guise of advocates) as support in any form, from the people who had to elect the minister in the future elections would only leave him smiling.
The state government's decision to conduct a judicial probe into the incident is a welcome move but even before that, it would fully lawful and legal to recover the amount of damage caused to the court property from Mr Janaradhan Reddy himself. There is enough reason to believe that the people behind the acts of vandalism, were his supporters and hence in order to teach such indoctrinated people a lesson, it would be a sane idea to burn a hole in the pocket of their own leader. Also, to make sure that such acts are not repeated in the regard of him or someone else, the period of judicial custody for the minister should be further extended as it would curtail people from administering such ideas, in future. Lastly it has to be mentioned that though, the presence of his supporters from Bellary nearly explains all the incidents convincingly and logically, one cannot jump into conclusions before conducting a probe in a manner which is completely fair and just. Hence an honest investigation process is expected from the people concerned and the ones found guilty need to be severely punished as their act has dented the image of the city and the state.
