No agitations, placards in Court: Calcutta High Court orders in contempt case against protesting advocates

A three-Judge Bench of the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed advocates to refrain from carrying out agitations within the court premises or anywhere else on issues concerning the contempt case initiated by Justice Rajasekhar Mantha against protesting lawyers who barred access to his courtroom..In this regard, a bench comprising of Justices TS Sivagnanam, IP Mukerji and Chitta Ranjan Dash ordered as follows:"Since this Court is seized of this matter, we direct that no meetings, processions, agitations, shall be held or placards shall be displayed within the premises of this Court or anywhere else concerning the subject issue..."The Court has also ordered the Registrar General to give due publicity to this direction by intimating the same to the High Court Bar Association, the Bar Library Club, and the Incorporated Law Society, apart from displaying such notice on the Court's website. .The Court today said that it has received a Police report in a sealed cover, which was stated to contain a pen drive with CCTV footage of the alleged acts of contempt by lawyers as well as still photos of the same. .However, the Court expressed its inability to take the same on record at present since the police authority did not submit an electronic certificate as required under the Information Technology Act, read with Section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act. .The Court orally observed that since there are very serious charges involved in the criminal contempt case at hand, it is important that the identification of the footage is proper. ."We are conscious of the fact that the present proceeding is a criminal contempt and therefore, if the CCTV footages as well as the still photographs as received from the CCTV said to be furnished in the pen drive have to be brought on record, the requisite certificate has to be issued by the said police authorities in terms of the provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000, as amended read with Section 65B of the Evidence Act", the Court noted, in its order..Therefore, the police authority concerned was issued notice and directed to furnish the relevant certificate. .Earlier this month, several advocates claiming to be members of the legal cell of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) party blocked the entry to courtroom number 13, preventing Justice Mantha from entering the court hall. As a result, the judge couldn't hear 306 cases that he had listed for hearing on that day.The lawyers had staged a protest alleging that the judge "protected" BJP's Suvendu Adhikari, who is also the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in West Bengal, by passing an order granting him 'immunity' from registration of any First Information Report (FIR).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.The protests had prompted the present contempt of court case to be registered against lawyers involved. .The Court during the hearing of the matter today noted the names of 12 advocates who are members of the High Court Bar Association and who allegedly either obstructed advocates from entering the courtroom on January 9 or who made defamatory statements against the judge and/ or the Court. The said names were furnished in a letter addressed to the Registrar General on January 11, 2023, the Court observed. .Further, the Court sought for the assistance of Bar representatives in the matter. In this regard, notice was directed to be served along with a copy of the order, upon the Bar Council of India, the Bar Council of West Bengal, the High Court Bar Association, Calcutta and the Incorporated Law Society. "For the purpose of assisting this Court in the present proceedings, which have been initiated to protect the dignity and decorum of this Court and also to remind the legal fraternity that they are part of a noble profession and no act of theirs shall prejudice the proceedings conducted by this Court and the oath of office administered to them when they were enrolled as the Members of the Bar. Therefore, we require the assistance of [these] entities," the Court said..Bar and Bench should be two sides of a coin, two wheels of a chariot: Court.As the hearing drew to a close, the Bench orally observed that the issue at hand is not one that concerns judges alone."This is not something that concerns this side alone, it concerns more that side (the Bar)," the Court orally observed. A lawyer assured the Court that such conduct will not re-occur, submitting,"At the end of the day, we will seek apologies. But we are not that bad! We will not do.. I will instruct my brothers and sisters.""They should listen to you", the Court replied. Justice Sivagnanam also weighed in that he came to know from the newspaper that the latest round of protests were against the constitution of a Bench to look into the case. "Today’s newspapers … (says) that the agitation that took place … is because the Chief Justice constituted this three judge bench. There is a placard… I am able to identify three advocates (holding placards), but I don’t want to say their names. … Let us all be two wheels of a chariot, two sides of a coin…"Earlier in the hearing, another counsel had called on the Court take steps to ensure that such incidents do not re-occur. "The incident that has happened has to be taken care of ... Unless some proceedings are drawn legally, nothing is going to come to an end," he told the Court. The matter will be taken up further hearing on February 2. In the meanwhile, the police report submitted in the matter will be kept with the Registrar General, the Court ordered. .Advocate General SN Mookherjee and Government Pleader Anirban Ray, appeared for the State today. .[Read Order]