SAMBALPUR: The face-off between Sambalpur District Bar Association (SDBA) and District Collector Mrinalini Darswal is all set to snowball into a major controversy after Sambalpur Police arrested 18 lawyers on Thursday.However, the lawyers were produced before the SDJM and released on personal bond. Reports said the SDBA members boycotted courts and closed all government offices in the morning demanding establishment of High Court bench. The police arrested them on way to the collectorate. The arrests followed an FIR lodged by the Collector and District Sub-Registrar (DSR).Tension gripped Sadar Court office where the arrested lawyers were kept with their colleagues shouting slogans against alleged highhandedness and autocratic attitude of Darswal and the police. Additional SP Dilip Kumar Deo said 16 out of 18 lawyers were arrested on the basis of the FIR lodged by the Collector. Four were mentioned in the FIR lodged by the DSR. Two lawyers have been named in both the cases, he added. Condemning the arrest, SDBA president Pramod Rath said they were holding a peaceful rally when the police arrested them. He demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident. RAYAGADA: A peace rally to protest the attack of Sambalpur Collector Mrinalini Darswal was taken out here on Thursday. All government officials, including District Collector Nitin Bhanudas Jawale and ADM Biranchi Narayan Rath, participated.
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