Afternoon news

• Reiterates his stand that lawyers should not fight battle of blasts-accused at the launch of MNS’s students’ outfit

Mumbai, Aug 2: Despite the threat of ‘contempt of court’ that hangs like the proverbial noose, MNS chief Raj Thackeray seems to be in no mood to give up on his tirade of asking lawyers to refrain from taking up the legal battles of the 7/11 blasts-accused. Yet again, Raj Thackeray warned lawyers not to offer services to the accused.

In fact, a few lawyers have sought the permission of Advocate General Ravi Kadam to drag Raj Thackeray to court despite which he remained adamant and stuck to his guns.

Speaking at the launch of MNS’s student wing, Maharashtra Navnirman Vidyarthi Sena at Ravindra Natya Mandir yesterday, Raj said, “I am ready to face the consequences for this statement. Does something called ‘ethics’ exist? If yes, the lawyers should refrain from appearing for such notorious elements. Had something wrong happened to family members of these lawyers, would they still offer their services?” Raj made no bones about the fact that he was firm on my stand that lawyers should not offer their services to the blasts accused. “This is my appeal to them. They should think it over.”

Meanwhile, he has nominated Aditya Shirodkar and Archit Jaykar as president and secretary respectively of the new student outfit. He said that the two office-bearers of the youth wing would be sent abroad every year to offer them a glimpse of development taking place elsewhere around the globe.