The Calcutta Seniors Part IV: Senior Advocate and ex-Mayor of Calcutta, Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya

Looking back, the name plate written in Bengali should have given a good idea of the kind of the interview this would have turned out to be. The location too. In a corner of one of the floors of the delightfully old Temple Chambers, lies the chambers of Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, senior advocate and ex-Mayor of Calcutta city. To reach the office you can either climb up the imposing staircase, or wait in line for the ancient, creaky lift to take you up. As is the case with so much of Calcutta city, the journey itself can be as valuable as the destination itself..Seated opposite me, Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya does little to hide his political ideologies. The CPI(M) leader has a poster of Che Guevera pasted on his table and more than one reply is soaked in his political beliefs. Like most lawyers of his time (and location) there is an evident disdain for the media. Over the next hour or so he will talk about his early days, struggling as an activist lawyer fighting for the common man, the things he learnt along the way and his love for Che..Entering the legal profession in 1978 with the late AP Chatterjee, the ex-Mayor did not have the easiest of beginnings. His senior was tough and demanding and did not hold back when it came to criticism. It is hard not to smile as Bhattacharya recounts his first appearance in the High Court. This time, help and encouragement came from unexpected quarters..“I had been in his chambers for 2-3 months and he asked me to draft a petition. When he saw the petition, he became very angry and threw away the draft. So I got quite unnerved. But I still remember that his clerk Mr. Niranjana, encouraged me and told me not to get upset, and to draft a better petition.When the petition was ready, I was asked to move the petition. That was my first appearance in court and I was so nervous, my knees were shaking! Anyway, I moved it and the court issued rule but no interim order. When I came out of the court, I saw my senior standing there. He had been watching what I had been doing. When I told him I could not get any interim relief, he said that in such matters even he would not have been able to get an interim order.”.In his early years, Bhattacharya appeared primarily for the poor and those who could barely afford legal representation. He soon built a reputation as someone who appeared for, in his words, “the have nots”. He supported himself financially by taking tuitions and even taught law for some time. Eventually though, he managed to build a successful practice..In 1993 he was offered the chance to be elevated to the High Court. He refused..“At that point of time, the new appointees were being transferred out of the State and this was a policy that I didn’t like. I was to be posted to Patna and therefore I declined.”.It was a decision that he would not regret. Soon thereafter he was designated a Senior Advocate and then appointed as Advocate General of the state of Tripura. It was a position he would occupy for five years, before returning to Calcutta..One of the more interesting facts about Bhattacharya is his ability to argue in pure Bengali. Even in complex criminal cases, Bhattacharya would stick to the vernacular before the lower courts. And he is now pushing for Bengali to be allowed in the High Court as well. And he provides his reasons why..“I have seen very many good lawyers who understand the law so well, who can make out the case so well but because of the lack of expression they cannot rise. Why should they be faced with this barrier?Secondly, the litigant should also understand what the lawyer is arguing. The lawyer may be arguing something completely different or incorrect.Once, some senior lawyers asked me, “Why are you pressing for bangla? You can speak English well.” I told them that the reason why I am pushing for this is [the language of the courts] should always be in a language that can be understood and communicated to all.”.It is difficult to separate the politician from the lawyer. His leftist leanings permeate through most answers, even those relating to appointment of judges, a topic that most lawyers prefer to discuss with restraint..“It is my reading that if good people are elevated to the Bench without any social interaction, they cannot become good judges. Unless you have the experience of interacting with the society, with the common man, observing the miseries of the people, you cannot deliver. Your thought process will not encourage you to deliver a judgment in that direction.”.Even though most of the questions were not related to politics, Bhattacharya did manage to take a few shots at the Trinamool Congress government that is currently in power. When asked about sexual harassment at the workplace, a question that would eventually lead to his thoughts on Justice AK Ganguly, Bhattacharya blamed the rise on violence against women on Mamata Banerjee’s government..“[Earlier] the eve teasers were under the fear of the common man’s reaction. But now with the change of political scenario these people started thinking that nobody will accuse them, nobody will dare to thrash them, nobody will dare to raise their voice against them. This sort of psyche has been developed and that has been helped by change in the political scenario – this is my analysis.”.And political stance remains even while discussing the allegations of sexual harassment levied against former Supreme Court judge, J. AK Ganguly. He clearly thinks that this is a case of trial by media and is quite blunt when it comes to listing out the perceived consequences of such trials..“I am completely against these sort of allegations. If you make such an allegation, then you have to have a logical conclusion to that. Without having done so, you are simply throwing an accusation and maligning someone.This also causes harm to the entire society.Many people are now scared of keeping young girl interns. Many people are now scared of keeping a lady secretary. Why? Because if you float an allegation against someone like Justice Ganguly, every person gets scared. Now the majority of the people have started believing that he has been unnecessarily maligned.”.The conversation winds up with questions on his hobbies and what he thinks of the newer generation of lawyers. Like most lawyers of his time, Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya believes in the virtue of patience and hard work. When asked what advice he would give to young lawyers who may be facing financial difficulties in the profession, his answer is,.“I feel that if you have the sincerity & the aptitude to learn, then there is no difficulty in earning handsomely and with respectability. Also, don’t run after money, money will run after you. This is my own experience. I don’t have any family background. You have to prove your worth by your sincerity and honesty.”.(This column is based on an interview that took place in January 2014 in Calcutta. It is the fourth in a series of interviews with lawyers of the Calcutta High Court, the previous three being that of Senior Advocates, Ashok Banerjee, Kalyan Bandopadhyay and Justice Ruma Pal)