Contempt of court case for protests against judge: Calcutta High Court says it wants to reach out to 'mastermind'

A full bench of the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday said that it wants to figure out who the 'mastermind' was behind the protests that were staged by lawyers outside the courtroom of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha on January 9..The Bench headed by Acting Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam asked lawyers who participated in the protests to come forward and file affidavits affirming their participation."You come forward and file your affidavit with the Registrar General. We will view this matter differently then. We do not want a confrontation between the Bar and the Bench," the Bench also comprising Justices IP Mukerji and Chitta Ranjan Dash said.The judges further impressed upon the Bar members present that they only want to reach out to the one who instigated and orchestrated the entire protests."We want to lay our hands on the 'mastermind' of those protests. Whoever she or he might be, be it a political leader or someone powerful. We only want to lay our hands on that person. Thus, advocates who participated in the protest can come forward and accept on an affidavit. We will see what can be done," the Court said..During the hearing, nine such advocates who participated in the protests appeared before the Bench through a counsel and filed their affidavits and apologies. The Bench said that it would consider the same on the next hearing, as there are chances that more such advocates would come forward.Meanwhile, the Bar Council of West Bengal and the fact finding team of the Bar Council of India submitted their separate reports before the Bench. The reports named a few advocates who could be identified from the video footage of the protests..A separate report was submitted by the Commissioner of Police, Kolkata, stating that the police has identified the printer who had published the 'contemptuous' posters against Justice Mantha that were posted in and around the High Court premises.The report also comprised statements of an advocate who confessed to have gotten the posters published and even participated in the protests along with his colleagues.The judges, however, sought a clarification from the Commissioner as to whether the statements of the concerned advocate were recorded as per the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).The hearing has been adjourned to May 15..Hundreds of lawyers, claiming to be members of the ruling Trinamool Congress' legal cell, had gathered outside Justice Mantha's courtroom and prevented him from holding court proceedings on January 9. The protesting lawyers alleged that the judge was harbouring bias against the State and was also protecting BJP's Suvendu Adhikari.Justice Mantha had on December 8 passed an order staying over 26 FIRs lodged against Adhikari and had directed the State to take the permission of the Court before lodging any FIR against him in the future.Another order by Justice Mantha that the lawyers took objection to was one by which the protection granted to Maneka Gambhir - sister-in-law of TMC General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee - was removed in a money laundering case..Justice Mantha subsequently initiated suo motu contempt proceedings against protesting lawyers who barred access to his courtroom.The contempt case was then placed before a Full Bench headed by the then Chief Justice.