Ramanagara, Feb 20 (IANS): Advocates continued their protest on Tuesday on the premises of the Ramanagara District Commissioner’s Office in Karnataka, demanding the suspension of Sub-Inspector (SI) of Police, Tanveer Hussain.

Hundreds of advocates laid siege to the office of the District Commissioner late on Monday night and did not allow Avinash Menon Rajendran to leave.

They have blocked both entrances to the building and the agitating advocates have said that they won't move until the SI is suspended and will launch a ‘Vidhana Soudha Chalo’ agitation on Wednesday.

The protest is in response to Hussain filing an FIR against 40 advocates in connection with the incident related to a defamatory post by advocate and SDPI worker Chand Pasha, on a Varanasi judge who gave a verdict in the Gyanvapi mosque case.

The incident had taken a communal turn and the police had registered an FIR against advocates on charges of assaulting a group of people questioning action against advocate Chand Pasha for posting a derogatory comment on the judge.

Talking to reporters, former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy stated on Tuesday, “Even as thousands of advocates have been protesting for a week, the Congress government has not bothered to listen to them. Action has to be initiated against the failure of the police department. The government is not installed to protect the interests of one community.”

Deputy Chief Minister, DK Shivakumar, commenting on the development at the Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru on Tuesday, said, “What is happening in Ramanagara is politics and let them do it. Kumaraswamy is raising the matter in the Assembly and the Home Minister will answer to it. The officers are supposed to protect all as per the law.”

“We are ready to talk if they want to come for a meeting. If they want to pursue politics let them carry out politics. We don’t have objections,” he stated.

When asked about the defamatory post against the Varanasi judge, Shivakumar stated he did not know about it.

“I don’t want to interfere. If they are willing to come, we will try to resolve it legally. We respect lawyers, people and officers,” he said.

The agitators maintained that the filing of cases against 40 advocates was politically-motivated and the local Congress MLA Iqbal had not bothered to come to the spot.

They alleged that the Superintendent of Police was not giving an appropriate answer.

The advocates threatened that they would launch a ‘Vidhana Soudha Chalo’ agitation on Wednesday.

The Bar Association of New Delhi and 193 Bar Associations in Karnataka have extended their support to the agitation.

JD-S leader Kumaraswamy, and Opposition leader R. Ashoka had visited the spot and extended their support to the protest. The matter is likely to come up for discussion in the Assembly.