New Delhi - Lawyers in India's southern city of Chennai took the law into their hands and allegedly thrashed a judge for refusing to grant bail to their clients, news reports said Thursday. Police told the NDTV network that some lawyers assaulted a magistrate on Wednesday evening, miffed that the judge had refused to give bail to their clients - four women who were charged in a case of theft.
According to reports on local TV news channels, there was a heated argument between two lawyers and the judge in his chamber following which 20 more lawyers barged into the room.
The altercation ended in fisticuffs, with the lawyers pulling the judge's shirt and punching him, the reports said.
Taking a serious view of the incident, the Chennai High Court on Thursday issued a contempt notice to the lawyers and directed them to appear before the court on November 29.
Meanwhile, the judge and the lawyers lodged complaints each other in the local police station.
In their complaint, the lawyers said the magistrate had abused them but denied that they had assaulted the judge, saying it was just a "war of words."
In another incident of violence by officials meant to protect law and order, a local lawmaker and his associates beat up three television reporters in the eastern state of Bihar on Thursday.
The reporters had gone to Anant Singh, a legislator from the ruling Janata Dal (United) Party, for a reaction in connection with a case of murder of a woman. The woman was alleged to have been raped and then killed by Singh and his associates.
Singh was later arrested by the police in Bihar, considered India's most poor and lawless state, where many politicians are believed to have criminal antecedents.
