Borivli court advocates go on one-day strike to protest ‘kidnapping’ of lawyer

After a lawyer practising in the Borivli court alleged he was kidnapped by his clients the Borivli Advocates Bar Association observed a oneday strike on Wednesday A kin of the accused who belong to the lowermiddle class claimed that the lawyer Pravin Dongardive cooked up the story when they had demanded a refund for the services that he didnrsquot deliverThe association urgently called on the government to expedite the implementation of the Advocate Protection Bill emphasising the crucial need for enhanced security measures for legal professionals The president secretary and other members of the Borivali Advocates Bar Association strongly protested against Dongardiversquos kidnapping To express their solidarity with the kidnapped brethren no lawyer appeared in court on Wednesday for the arrested accused or any other case proceedingsCops rescue lawyerThe Borivli police on Tuesday night registered a case against the accused under various charges of kidnapping and assault The police successfully lsquorescuedrsquo Dongardive from their custody While one of the accused Vishal Sapkal has been arrested the others including a woman were allowed to go with warnings taking into consideration legal constraints related to arresting women in the evening Sapkal was produced before the court and he was remanded in police custody for one dayPravin DongardiveDongardive 41 allegedly claimed to have been kidnapped from the court premises by his clients around 6 pm on Tuesday Dongardive contacted the association secretary advocate Surendra Landge informing him of the abduction and being held hostage by his clients who demanded a refundLandge engaged with the alleged kidnappers requesting Dongardiversquos release He suggested the clients come to court to discuss and collect any owed money directly from Dongardive When the clients refused to leave without the money Landge and other association members including president advocate Rajesh More approached Borivli police station and informed the duty officer about the incidentThe officer directed the alleged kidnappers to come to the police station with their legal representative However they persisted in demanding money leading to the involvement of senior officers A dedicated team including lawyers from the Police Team Association was sent to Charkop to secure the lawyerrsquos release Dongardive was successfully rescued from Charkop village and the accused were arrestedTied and beatenDongardive stated that he was forcibly abducted in an auto and taken to Charkop village where he was tied to a chair and beaten by five to six individuals Managing to break free he ran away and called his fellow lawyer for helpSapkalrsquos aunt Savita Lokhande refuted all allegations She claimed that Dongardive took cash from her sister for transferring and making a ration card for their new residence in Charkop village Vasant Gavai a fruit vendor and an agent introduced Dongardive to her sister promising the transfer of the ration card to the Charkop address Despite payment of Rs 15000 no progress was made leading to suspicions of deceptionWithout making any progress in the transfer of the ration card Dongardive sought more money In the conversation that ensued Lokhandersquos sister and other family members grew suspicious and sought a refund Other people came forward and told that they too have been duped by the agent on the promise to get their work done in government officesLokhande said that the agents returned Rs 8000 to others but when they asked Dongardive for a reimbursement he declined and claimed to his fellow lawyers that he had been kidnapped A recording of the conversation and supporting witnesses exist she said However due to pressure from the lawyers the police registered a case against themA statement by the Borivli Advocate Bar Associationrsquos secretary read ldquoWe express deep concern regarding the rising number of attacks on lawyers and the prevailing incidents We urgently call upon the government to expedite the implementation of the Advocate Protection Bill For any lawyer facing allegations it is imperative that clients submit a written complaint to the Bar Council The Bar Council will conduct a thorough investigation and if wrongdoing is established appropriate actions will be takenrdquoAdvocate Rajeev Desai and Jaywant Patil said ldquoFor every person whether he is a lawyer police doctor journalist or others if someone commits a mistake or commits a crime there is a provision in the law for which a complaint can be made against him But no one has the right to take the law into their own handsrdquo ldquoWe have registered the case and arrested one accused Further investigation is underwayrdquo said Senior Police Inspector Ninad Sawant Borivli police station