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Ruckus in Bengal: Lawyers stage protest against high court judge
Protesting lawyers gathered outside the Courtroom No.13 in the morning and prevented Justice Mantha from continuing with proceedings, a senior lawyer familiar with the incident said. The demonstrators also engaged in a scuffling with some lawyers who wanted to attend proceedings.
A group of lawyers of the Calcutta high court on Monday staged a demonstration outside the courtroom of justice Rajasekhar Mantha, while posters alleging his judgments favouring Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Suvendu Adhikari were put up near the court premises and the judge’s residence.
Protesting lawyers gathered outside the Courtroom No.13 in the morning and prevented Justice Mantha from continuing with proceedings, a senior lawyer familiar with the incident said. The demonstrators also engaged in a scuffling with some lawyers who wanted to attend proceedings.
“Chief justice Prakash Shrivastava sought a report on the demonstration along with security camera footage showing the lawyers. He also held a meeting with some judges,” said a senior court official, requesting anonymity.
Meanwhile, posters with photos of the high court judge, Adhikari and Union minister Amit Shah were seen pasted near the court complex. Written in both English and Bengali, the posters alleged the judge “pardons all criminal cases against Suvendu Adhikari. Stays all investigations and orders no future FIRs”.
A line in the poster referred to Justice Mantha’s order setting aside a plea filed by Maneka Gambhir, the sister-in-law of TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, challenging the Enforcement Directorate’s move to stop her from visiting Bangkok in September last year. Gambhir is one of the suspects in the coal smuggling case.
Adhikari is named in 26 FIRs registered by the West Bengal Police since 2020 when he quit the TMC to join the BJP. On December 8 last year, Justice Mantha ordered a stay on police proceedings in all FIRs against Adhikari and said no fresh FIR can be lodged without the court’s permission.
Officers at the Lake police station in south Kolkata said they visited Jodhpur Park, where justice Mantha lives in a multi-storey apartment, and recovered CCTV footage from the building. “The footage showed some people putting up the posters around midnight. The men came on two-wheelers,” said a senior police officer. “Posters were found outside some other buildings in the posh neighbourhood as well.”
Condemning the incident, senior lawyer Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya said: “TMC was behind this uncivilised demonstration carried out by a section of young lawyers, of whom some were women. Even senior lawyers who fight cases for TMC condemned it. It had cost money to print those colourful posters. Obviously, there was proper planning. They could have moved division bench or Supreme Court challenging justice Mantha’s orders...” The incident triggered a war-of-words between the ruling TMC and opposition BJP.
“We cannot comment on the posters or the demonstration because the matter relates to the high court,” said TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh. “However, it is a fact that while common people say they would be going to court to seek justice, Adhikari always says he will move the court of justice Mantha. Why is this preference for justice Mantha?” Meanwhile, BJP state chief Sukanta Majumdar said: “We condemn this. During the Left Front regime, the CPI(M) carried out a similar campaign against justice Amitava Lala for one of his judgments. TMC is carrying on that legacy.”
