The email that warned of the serial blasts says clearly why lawyers were targeted. It says the police nabbed “two innocent groups” and framed fake terror charges against them and lawyers “of these places” beat up “innocent group members and refused to take their cases and didn’t allow others to take their case.”

In fact, terror accused in Uttar Pradesh always faced a peculiar problem. They have had to bear with the mob fury of lawyers, who used to pounce on them whenever they were produced in courts.

• When five alleged terrorists held in connection with the attack on the disputed Ram Janambhoomi Complex in Ayodhya were produced in the district court of Faizabad, after a six-month wait for trial, hundreds of lawyers roughed them up.

Later, the Faizabad Bar Association passed a unanimous resolution asking lawyers not to take up the case of terrorists. The judge then directed the State Government to provide a counsel to accused for defence.

An advocate, Shailendra Tewari, who dared to take up their case, was beaten black and blue by the lawyers. The case remained pending in the Faizabad court from September 2005 to February 2006 with no lawyer turning up for the terror accused.

The case was then transferred to Allahabad and the accused sent to Naini jail.

• When three people arrested on charges of hatching a conspiracy to kidnap Rahul Gandhi were produced in the sessions court in Lucknow last Saturday, the lawyers assaulted them as well as the policemen accompanying them. They had to take shelter in a court room. Since then, the trial has been going on inside the jail premises.

... contd.