On Tuesday, a large group of police personnel gathered outside the Delhi Police headquarters at ITO to protest the Saturday violence and the assault on police officers by lawyers subsequently.

The police personnel, in uniform, were seen wearing black bands to condemn the attacks on their ranks.

A police officer on the spot told India Today TV, “We have simply come to meet the commissioner. We want justice. If those in the legal profession won’t listen to us, who will?”Another officer said that they had not gathered for a protest but were simply at the PHQ to meet their superior and present their grievances.

The police officers refused to comment on a video making the rounds on social media wherein a group of lawyers can be seen beating, slapping a lone police officer outside the Saket Court in the capital.

IPS officers rage on Twitter

Meanwhile, several IPS officers took to Twitter to condemn the continued attack on policemen.

Karnataka IPS officer, D Roopa, said that the assault was a “mockery of the system”. She said if the “strictest action” is not taken against the perpetrators, it will dampen the morale of officers and “embolden hooligans”.

Arunachal DIG Madhur Verma lamented that police officers don’t have human rights. “I am sorry.. we are police … we don’t exist.. we don’t have families…we don’t have human rights !!!” he said.

Echoing the sentiment, IPS officer Aslam Khan said police officers are “punching bags”.

Other officers too said that Tis Hazari incident has shaken the “collective consciousness of society” and that even police officers deserve to be treated equally under the law.

The IPS Association, in contrast, called for a balanced view of the Tis Hazari violence. It did condemn the attacks of officers of the law.

Lawless lawyers take to streets

On Monday, protest marches were held by lawyers all over the national capital. Lawyers at the six district courts in the national capital – Tis Hazari, Karkardooma, Saket, Dwarka, Rohini and Patiala House — boycotted work throughout the day.

Photo: PTI

Around 200 lawyers marched from the Saket court to Saket police station raising slogans and several others marched from the Tis Hazari court to the residence of the Lt Governor Anil Baijal and sat on a dharna outside.

Moreover, lawyers not only protested on roads by stopping vehicles but also beat up journalists and the common people.

Monday’s strike by lawyers seemed less like an effort to protect their rights and more like a show of might.

The protesting lawyers stopped traffic at different places and manhandled auto drivers and other people who tried to go past them.

The lawyers were also seen damaging police property in the city, according to various videos of the protest doing rounds on social media. They even cornered a litigant and assaulted him on the street outside Saket district court.

An on-duty policeman was allegedly thrashed by advocates outside Saket Court on Monday. In a video of the purported incident, lawyers were seen beating up the policeman who is riding a bike. One of the lawyers was also seen slapping the policeman.

When the policeman was leaving the spot, the lawyer also hit his bike with his helmet.

On Saturday, lawyers and police clashed at the Tis Hazari court complex here on Saturday during which at least 20 police personnel and several lawyers were injured while many vehicles vandalised or set on fire, according to officials.