Ayodhya Bar Association refuses to represent accused persons in Ram temple donations case

The Ayodhya Bar Association on Monday refused to represent the accused persons in a case about the alleged embezzlement of donations made to the Ram temple in Ayodhya, The Hindu reported.

The president of the association, Kalika Prasad Mishra, warned that any lawyer representing the accused persons will be fined Rs 5 lakh.

A first information report has been filed against eight persons in the case, all of whom have been arrested. Those named in the FIR are Ramashankar Yadav alias Tinnu, Anukalp Mishra, Avinash Shukla, Karunesh Pandey, Manish Yadav, Lavkush Mishra, Ramashankar Mishra and Subhash Srivastava.

Kalika Prasad Mishra, the president of the bar association, said that a committee comprising 15 to 20 members has been formed to handle the prosecution’s case, ANI reported. He also noted that demands have been made that the Central Bureau of Investigation should look into the case.

“People are questioning the point of making offerings to the deity when a group of five individuals might simply misappropriate them,” Mishra was quoted as saying by ANI. “They argue that while the accused currently in jail have been formally charged, there are others, far more culpable, who remain implicated.”

The chief of the bar association said that the alleged misappropriation could not have taken place without the knowledge of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth...

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