Spat between lawyers in Koregaon-Bhima case hearing

The hearing in the Koregaon-Bhima violence case in the Supreme Court on Monday saw sharp exchanges between senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan and Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.

At the fag end of the hearing of the plea filed by historian Romila Thapar before a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Dhavan referred to interruptions by the law officer.

"Mr Mehta should be a commentator in local cricket matches. Don't convert everything into a stupid drama. He did this to me during the hearing of another important case. Let us have a hearing without these interruptions,” Dhavan said.

"I do not want to stoop to his level. This pedestrian language has been used for judges also," the law officer responded angrily.

This prompted senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the complainant in the violence case, to say "the arguments be confined to the case. I am making this request second time in this court...".

The bench fixed the plea of Thapar and the others for final hearing on September 19, while specifying the time limit for advancing of arguments by lawyers including Salve, A M Singhvi, Anand Grover, Dhavan, Mehta and Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh.