Day After Some Lawyers Targeted Calcutta High Court Judge, Row Over Letter

A day after a group of lawyers blocked entry to Justice Rajasekhar Mantha's court, forcing an adjournment, several members of the state Bar Association have written to the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court backing the protesters, saying it would be "a superior injustice to remain silent". They have requested the High Court to remove Justice Rajasekhar Mantha from hearing certain cases. However, the Bar Association has denied any meeting or resolution, and senior lawyers of the Calcutta High Court have condemned the action of lawyers blocking the entrance of the courtroom. 

Justice Mantha has been in the news for an order that gives blanket protection to the Leader of Opposition in the state assembly, BJP's Suvendu Adhikari.

The letter says there "must be deliberations" upon the actions of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha, who they say has fallen short of his usual standards in recent times. These lawyers claim the judge has violated the principle of 'audi alteram', which is to hear everyone.

The lawyers, objecting to Justice Mantha's orders, had yesterday also protested outside his court. They held placards stating their issue with him. 

Posters outside Justice Mantha's home and the Calcutta High Court called him a "disgrace to the judiciary" for his order on Mr Adhikari. Another took issue with the judge's move to remove the protection granted to senior TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee's sister-in-law.

The matter then came up before the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court today after CPI(M) leader and Senior Advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya condemned the move. Deputy Solicitor General Billwadal Bhattacharya demanded central security in the court premises.

Advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya said there has been an "attempt to malign the judge", and posters have come up around his house. He appealed to the bench to take strong note and pushed for criminal contempt of court.

On a letter from some lawyers claiming the Bar Association has decided to abstain from Justice Mantha's court, Advocate Saptansgu Basu asked the court to ignore it since "there has been no meeting of the bar and there is no resolution". "There should be no cognisance of it," he argued.

The court adjourned the matter, to be taken up again later.

The Chief Justice on Monday had summoned the Advocate General and the President of the Bar Association of the Calcutta High Court regarding the matter. The Chief Justice reprimanded the AG and said if the matter reaches the Supreme Court, there will be trouble. "How can a judge's bench be boycotted?" the Chief Justice asked.

"For the last one year or so, it has been perceived by those lawyers that they are not getting justice, not being heard properly, not being behaved with properly, and a minimum reciprocation of respect was absent. This created some sort of fume amongst the common lawyers. From the day they become lawyers, they have their self-respect. So, it was earlier it was placed before the Bar Association and the Bar Association in turn placed it before the Chief Justice," Advocate Achintya Banerjee, a signatory to the letter complaining about Justice Mantha submitted to the Chief Justice, said.

Lawyer and BJP member Advocate Tarunjyoti Tiwari tweeted a video of the protest, drawing the attention of Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju to the issue.

Opposition parties have also condemned the lawyers' actions outside the court, saying there's a proper forum to register such grievances.

"Unfortunately, the magnanimity of this institution has been ridiculed and diminished. If you are aggrieved by a particular order by a particular judge, there is a higher forum to go up and appeal. We write in our applications that the judge erred in coming to a conclusion or the judge failed to appreciate, we write all that. There is a forum to vent grievances. Unfortunately, obstruction of justice is unheard of, and this was never the culture of this great institution," Advocate Ritzu Ghoshal, lawyer and Congress leader, said.