Section of lawyers 'boycott' Justice Mantha's courtroom

KOLKATA: A section of lawyers boycotted Justice Rajasekhar Mantha's courtroom on Monday and allegedly did not allow any lawyer to enter, which led to a commotion in the court premises. Several cases were not heard due to the disturbance. Due to this, the hearing in the court of Justice Mantha was closed for more than an hour. Another section of lawyers had to forcefully open the doors after clashing with the agitating lawyers.

The chaos forced Justice Mantha to leave the courtroom which meant that he could not preside over cases scheduled to be heard in his court on Monday. It has been reported that more than 300 cases were listed for Monday. Reportedly a group of lawyers participating in the boycott had gathered outside courtroom number 13 with placards. The Assistant Solicitor General Bilwadal Bhattacharya reportedly drew the attention of Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava on the incident of stalling the proceedings in Justice Mantha’s courtroom.

Chief Justice Shrivastava summoned the Advocate General of the state and the President of the Bar Association over the incident. The AG came and told the Chief Justice that he had just come to know about the matter. Reportedly, the Chief Justice gave a specific time and stated that if the protest was not removed, appropriate action will be taken. Moreover, posters with the name of Justice Mantha were put up outside Justice Mantha’s Jodhpur Park residence also. The Lake police station has reportedly started a probe into the incident.