By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Feb 24: City-based lawyers watched helplessly as towering flames consumed their place of employment and reduced some wonderful memories of embarking on their first steps in the professional world to ashes.
A lawyer who went by the name Gautam said, “It is not a physical loss but an emotional loss as all the lawyers started from here.”
He claims that numerous crucial files have been lost, which will have a significant bearing on the legal process.
When asked about her thoughts, another attorney, Mary Sawkmie, who was idly strolling in front of the office, almost started crying. She replied, “I have been working here since 2009 and I am very sad. It is a great loss as this place means a lot to us and has a lot of memories.”
P Dey, who has been practicing for 32 years, said, “I cannot express my feelings. We have been coming here every day since the day we joined the bar association.
“We keep our gowns in the cupboard along with the litigants’ flies, and now everything is gone and we will have to start again,” he said. Advocate Phillip Khrawbok Shati said, “This is a big loss and this is a place where not only one lawyer sits but it is a working and meeting point of hundreds of lawyers.”
“Many files have been lost, and we will not be able to function effectively. Going forward, we could only seek help from the court to resend some of the files; however, there are some files which can no longer be retrieved and that is what is unfortunate,” he added.
While some paced anxiously around the office, others stood beside the smoke-filled rooms of the Bar Association with their gaze still fixed on the place as they contemplated their future course of action.