Saturday

The attack on Madras High Court lawyers was premeditated

Written by Malarthamil.

Malarthamil is a civil engineer and writer-poet inspired by Thirukkural – a classical Tamil poetry that expounds various aspects of life.

The recent police attack on the Madras High Court lawyers in the southern Indian city of Chennai is known to have been premeditated by the central and state governments in an apparant effort to divert attention from the flaring Sri Lankan issue in the state.

Prior to the violent incident in the Madras High Court campus in which several members of the state judiciary and public were injured and their properties damaged, there were several peaceful protests across the Tamil Nadu state to draw attention to the plight of the Tamil civilians getting killed in the carpet bombing and cluster bombing by the Sri Lankan forces in the war ravaged neighboring country of Sri Lanka.

While these protests were by large peaceful, there were stray incidents of buses being torched by unknown elements. Self immolations by individuals were also on the rise and have caused a psychological stress among public who are puzzled at the insensitivity shown by the central and state governments on the issue. 

Inspite of the public outcry and no action by the government in response, peace prevailed in the state. The public transportation, government and private establishments were all fuctioning without any disruption. The Lawyers protest though, had stalled the functioning of the judiciary system in the state. It was a deliberate attempt by the lawyers to draw the attention of the entire nation. The lawyers drew parallels to their protest with Mahatma Gandhi’s civil disobedience movement. 

While the state and central governments could afford to ignore all other protests by the people, it could not brush off the lawyers boycott, since the judiciary system was coming to a grinding halt and becoming a major irritant. 

Therefore there was a compulsion for the government to act immeidately and contain the lawyers protest. From the detailed accounts of the incident it is evident that the violent attacks on the lawyers was planned by the central government of India and executed by the officers of the Tamil Nadu state government with the knowledge of the government machinery. It may not be a surprise, if we come to know that the Judicial authorities in New Delhi were briefed prior to the incident on possible use of force. The CBI enquiry can only be seen as a part of the enacted drama in the post drama session.

Now the voices on the Sri Lankan crisis have been silenced. The Madras High Court incident is being referenced as a Police – Lawyer clash. Few opinioated media are engaged in the character assasination of the lawyers. The lawyers are now suddenly projected as being dishonest and unruly . The pundits at power in Delhi and Chennai have achieved what they wanted with the help of few misleading media elements.

Obviously people have been defeated in this deceitful democracy. Again the Sri Lankan Tamils have been orphaned.