Reminiscent of the events of 2015, Senior Advocate Rajeev Dhavan and Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta once again faced off inside the court of the Chief Justice of India.

The incident transpired towards the fag end of the hearing in the case relating to arrests of activists in the Bhima Koregaon violence.

The Court had decided to adjourn the case for Wednesday this week, when Rajeev Dhavan rose and took exception to what he considered as constant interruptions by ASG Mehta during the submissions of the petitioners.

“Mr. Mehta should be a commentator in local cricket matches. Dont convert everything into stupid drama. He did this to me during the hearing of another important case. Let us have a hearing without these interruptions”, said Dhavan.

“I dont want to stoop to his level”, was Mehta’s short and curt reply.

This is not the first time Dhavan has sparred with Mehta. In 2015, during the hearing of a case involving the Medical Council of India, tensions between the two reached their zenith.  Right from the beginning of the hearing, there was hostility from both Dhavan and Mehta as they sought to interrupt each other. Dhavan, evidently not pleased with Mehta’s interruptions, suddenly burst out and told Mehta,

“Don’t ask me to sit down.”

Mehta was taken aback by the sudden outburst and there was a brief exchange of words between the two.

Subsequently, when the hearing was over and the lawyers were leaving the court room, Mehta tried to get back at Dhavan. But it was met with a curt and sharp “Shut up..just shut up” as Dhavan walked away nonchalantly.

More recently, during the hearing of the Ram Mandir-Babri Masjid case, Dhavan had a bone to pick with another ASG, Maninder Singh. Coming to Singh’s defence, Mehta had said in open court,

“There are people who are arrogant. With due respect to the learned Senior Counsel, he seems to have undergone a course in it.”