Security outside the courtroom of the Calcutta High Court judge who has been accused by a section of lawyers of being biased towards BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari was stepped up on Tuesday following a boycott of the judge for the second consecutive day.
The judge summoned the police officer in charge of Calcutta High Court’s security on Tuesday and asked him to deploy more force in front of his courtroom.
“Important cases are heard in this court. Deploy more force to ensure that willing lawyers can enter the courtroom and take part in the hearings,” the judge told the officer. After the order, the number of cops outside the courtroom was increased from two to 10.
The judge also called the registrar-general of the high court to his courtroom and asked him to ensure that no lawyer was prevented from entering his courtroom.
The hearing of many cases could not be held in the judge’s courtroom for the second consecutive day on Tuesday in the absence of state panel lawyers.
The majority of the members of the Calcutta High Court Bar Association and a large number of other lawyers, including state panel lawyers, have been boycotting the judge’s court since Monday to protest what they claimed was the judge’s bias in favour of BJP leader Adhikari, who is also leader of the Opposition in the Bengal Assembly.
On Monday, posters had come up on the court premises against the judge. The posters referred to some of his judgments, including the ones that had stayed investigations against Adhikari and removed the protection accorded to the sister-in-law of Trinamul Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee.
The police on Tuesday registered an FIR against unknown persons in connection with the posters that were found outside the south Kolkata residence of the judge.
In the court, the vice-president of the Calcutta High Court Bar Association and five other lawyers moved a plea before the division bench headed by Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava seeking contempt proceedings against the agitating lawyers.
But a large number of lawyers opposed the prayer and said the boycott decision was made to “maintain peace in the high court”.
Hundreds of lawyers assembled in the Chief Justice’s courtroom. The hearing could not be held because of an altercation between the two groups. The Chief Justice asked the groups to send their written statements to the registrar-general of the court.
The judged accused of favouring Adhikari lodged a suo-motu case and said the Chief Justice-headed division bench would take up the matter related to whether contempt proceedings would be drawn against the agitating lawyers.