Amid Maratha Quota Stir Traffic Chaos, Judge Walks To Reach High Court

Not only common people, but even the Bombay High Court was inconvenienced by Maratha quota protesters who occupied streets in south Mumbai and blocked a car of a judge, who had to walk a short distance to reach the HC building.

A bench of Justices Ravindra Ghuge and Gautam Ankhad stated that the city of Mumbai was "literally paralysed and the HC was virtually under a siege".

The bench noted that every street, especially in the entire region of Azad Maidan, CST, Mantralaya, Flora Fountain, Marine Drive, P'Demello Road, was flooded with protesters who are on the streets, dancing, playing kabbadi, cooking food, bathing on the main roads, and so on.

"In fact, today, when one of us (Ravindra Ghuge) was travelling to the Court around 12.30 pm in the official car, there was a huge blockade in front of the City Civil Court and the High Court building," the high court stated in its order after hearing a bunch of petitions.

The protesters were playing on the streets, many were dancing, while some were sleeping on the roads. The Judge (Ghuge) walked beside the crowd on the footpath from the City Civil Court and reached the High Court, it added.

Even the government pleader, Purnima Kantharia, also had to walk along with the judge as she too was stranded.

"The High Court was virtually under a siege. Whilst the hearing was going on inside the Court hall, doors of which were closed, slogan shouting was clearly audible to us as well as all the lawyers and litigants," the bench stated.

Jarange has been staging a hunger strike at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai from Friday, demanding a 10 per cent reservation to the Maratha community in government jobs and education under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category.

"We can see how peaceful the protest is. The high court building is surrounded. The entry gates for the judges and lawyers are blocked. The cars of high court judges were blocked today, and prevented from coming to court. The entire city has been blocked," it said. 

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)