Calcutta High Court takes suo motu cognisance of heckling of lawyers by mob, forms three-judge bench

Kolkata: The Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday took suo motu cognisance of alleged heckling of some lawyers by a mob last week and constituted a three-judge bench to hear the matter.

Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam constituted the three-judge bench comprising justices Arijit Banerjee, Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya and Rajarshi Bharadwaj.

The matter is likely to come up for hearing later this week, a senior lawyer related to the issue said.

Taking note of the alleged incident of heckling of the lawyers, including senior advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, by a mob, the Chief Justice's bench on Monday directed that petitions be registered with regard to the incident.

A division bench presided by Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam had directed that notice be served in the office of the Advocate General, Additional Solicitor General and the respective secretaries of the three wings of the Bar - the Bar Association, the Bar Library Club and Incorporated Law Society of the high court.

The bench, also comprising Justice Chaitali Chatterjee (Das) further directed that the petitions, after registration, be placed before the Chief Justice for necessary orders.

A few advocates had brought to the notice of the Chief Justice's bench an incident of April 25 when senior advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya and his lawyer associates were alleged to have been gheraoed and heckled by some people outside their chamber opposite the high court building.

Claiming that the hecklers were probably associated with some litigants, the lawyers prayed that the court take cognisance of the issue and seek a report from the police.

Complaints regarding the heckling have been lodged with the police, they submitted.

The chief justice said that the alleged incident was brought to his notice on April 25 evening, and that the registrar general of the high court, on his directive, informed the deputy commissioner of police of the area.

The CJ said that he had also asked that the Advocate General of the state be informed and that his intervention be requested.

The chief justice said that AG Kishore Dutta informed him later in the evening that the entire area was cleared of the mob.