Hubballi: A 19-year-old girl and three engineering students from Kashmir are booked under sedition cases and they are struggling for their legal representation, despite the Karnataka High Court observing last week that it is unethical and illegal for lawyers to pass resolutions against representing anyone in court.
19-year-old girl, Amulya Leona Norhoa is a college student and she is booked under for sedition right after she started a speech with Pakistan Zindabad at an anti-CAA protest in Bengaluru. On Wednesday, the police took her at the home of a magistrate for a custody remand after local advocate groups ensured that she did not find representation in court.
The reports also state that the police were also apprehensive that the girl may be attacked if she was taken to court.
With no representation, Amulya’s bail plea was not taken up by the magistrate on Monday and a request for police custody also remained in limbo.
A few women advocates who wanted to represent her were forced to leave the court on Monday after the other lawyers objected to the “anti-national” being represented in court.
“We were asked to leave,” an advocate said.
A senior lawyer opposed to representing Amulya as she said, “If such people are represented, then more people will start saying such things.”
Basit Aashiq Sofi from Baramulla in Kashmir, and Talib Majeed and Amir Mohiuddin Wani from Anantnag are facing a similar problem. The three, who are students of a Hubbaballi college were arrested on Feb 15 on charges of sedition over a video in which they were purportedly seen singing along to a song with the words “Pakistan Zindabad”.
Subsequently, the Hubballi Bar Association passed a resolution that no lawyers will represent the youths in court on account of their “anti-national” act. On Feb 17, when they were produced in court, the three were attacked by a mob. Despite a group of 24 human rights lawyers obtaining a directive from the high court on
Class at Hubballi, they could not be represented by any advocate and the accused, who are students, were assaulted in the Court premises itself,” the court observed.
