Jharkhand lawyers strike work to protest judge's 'misbehaviour'

Ranchi, Feb 18 (IANS) Around 35,000 lawyers across Jharkhand on Tuesday abstained from judicial work to protest against the alleged misbehaviour of a district judge with a lawyer, affecting court functioning in the state.Litigants whose cases were listed for hearing had a harrowing time as they had to return home empty-handed as no lawyer turned up to argue their cases."We struck work to protest against the misbehaviour of Palamau District Judge Pankaj Kumar with district Bar Council president Sacchidanand Tewary. Around 35,000 lawyers in the state remained on strike," said lawyer Arvind Kumar Singh of the Ranchi district courts.The Jharkhand High Court Advocates Association has formed a four-member committee to probe the alleged incident. The committee will visit Palamau and submit a report to the Bar Council.According to the High Court Registrar, the court has taken cognisance and started a probe.
--IANS ns/tsb/bg