A cease-work call by the Calcutta High Court Bar Association crippled the functioning of the court on Monday.

The call was in protest against the alleged assault of a high court lawyer, a member of the association, by a sub-inspector of Bishnupur police station in South 24-Parganas on Sunday.

Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam of the high court and the state’s advocate-general, Kishore Datta, have been apprised of the matter, the association said.

Over 1,500 cases are usually heard in the high court every day, said a source in the bar association. “On Monday, around 50 cases were heard in a little over an hour since the court opened,” he said.

The accused police officer has been “closed” following the allegations, a senior
officer of the Diamond Harbour police district told this newspaper on Monday evening.

Sankar Prasad Dalapati, secretary of the high court bar association, on Monday wrote to the chief justice about the alleged assault.

“Members of the bar do hereby resolve that they shall not participate in judicial proceedings before this honorable court until and
unless the delinquent police officer be suspended at once and apt measures be initiated against the police personnel who were responsible for mishandling the advocate,” said the letter.

The alleged assault is said to have happened at the Nepalganj outpost in the Bishnupur police station area on Sunday evening.

“The advocate, Sourav Mandal, went to the Nepalganj police outpost in connection with a case on behalf of a client. A sub-inspector, identified as Sudipto Sanyal, abused and hit Mandal. Even when Mandal identified himself as an advocate in Calcutta High Court, the officer did not step back,” Dalapati told Metro.

A source in the association said the sub-inspector got angry after seeing Mandal “share a light moment with a constable”.

“An argument started when he asked the advocate why he was laughing. The matter escalated soon and he started hitting Mandal,” the source said.

The letter to the chief justice said Mandal was taken to Amtala Rural Hospital after the assault.

“The sub-inspector not only falsely implicated the advocate with a case under Section 292 (public nuisance) of the BNS (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita), but also threatened to slap narcotic cases on him,” the member said.

Mandal has filed complaints with the “DG, IG, SP and IC along with medical documents and requested the police authorities to preserve CCTV footage” at the outpost, the letter from the association secretary said.

A meeting of the general body of the bar association was convened on Monday.
The meeting unanimously decided on the cease-work
notice.

“The accused officer was served a show-cause notice and he was closed later in the day,” a senior officer of the Diamond Harbour police district told this newspaper on Monday evening.

Closing a cop, a preliminary disciplinary action, means taking the accused off active duty.

“The cop is usually placed in police lines or barracks and assigned minor work,” said a police officer.

Sources in the association said the officer, accompanied by other senior officers of Diamond Harbour, has “formally apologised” to Mandal.

The association has convened another meeting on Tuesday morning to decide the next course of action.