NEW DELHI, Dec 28: The Delhi High Court Women Lawyers Forum has condemned the raid at the office of Mehmood Pracha, an advocate for the accused in the riots over CAA.

It said such raids and investigations are intended to stop lawyers from representing their clients in controversial cases like the riots.

"However , this is also a larger issue that goes beyond the riots case, wherein lawyers who are vocal about defending civil liberties are being systematically targeted. This is clearly an act of vindictiveness on part of the investigating agencies whose actions are preventing lawyers from carrying their professional duties," the Forum said in a letter to the president of the Delhi High Court Bar Association on Saturday.

The court on Friday ordered the police to produce the video footage of the raid conducted at Pracha's office. Pracha told the court the police action was a breach of attorney-client privilege. He said the police had taken away the entire data from his computer.

The special cell of the Delhi police had on Thursday raided the office of advocate Pracha. However, they had a warrant from a local court to search for "incriminating documents" and "metadata of outbox" of the official email address of the advocate.

Pracha was the lawyer of Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad in the CAA protest case.

“The raid is also an attack on the attorney-client privilege that Mr Pracha is entitled to," said advocate Indira Jaising. Advocate Rizwan said the raids at Pracha’s office is a deliberate attempt to create pressure on the lawyers.