Delhi Police and the lawyers are at war. The woman at the centre of it is still waiting

The current face-off between Delhi Police and lawyers did not begin with a direct confrontation. Its roots lie in an alleged assault involving Sheetal Thakur, who runs a salon in Rohtash Nagar, Shahdara, and her family. A group, led by a district court advocate Amulya Ratan, is accused of assaulting Sheetal and her husband outside her salon. The dispute later reached Shahdara police station, where another confrontation occurred between lawyers and police personnel.

In the days since, the dispute has snowballed into a standoff between Delhi Police and the city’s lawyers. Police registered an FIR against advocates for allegedly assaulting and threatening the SHO inside Shahdara police station. District court lawyers went on strike, an ACP and an SHO were transferred, police personnel protested outside Police Headquarters, and the ACP has now been suspended.

The two sides – lawyers and the Delhi Police – have also agreed on a ‘coordination’ mechanism. Through it all, Sheetal said, her complaint has not resulted in an FIR against the people she accused.

Recalling the incident that took place around 11 am on October 23, Sheetal said that Vishnu, the brother-in-law of advocate Amulya Ratan, had parked his motorcycle outside her salon. When her husband asked him to move the bike, Vishnu allegedly responded by saying that he would teach him a lesson on how to speak to lawyers.