Business takes a hit in HC as lawyers protest shift to new criminal laws
Times of India | 2 July 2024
Kolkata: Business in the Calcutta High Court took a hit on Monday as state counsels and many lawyers didn’t attend court as a mark of protest against the implementation of the new criminal laws.
Even as judges were present in the courtrooms and senior counsel of petitioners made submission, hearings in most cases had to be adjourned due to absence of lawyers representing the state.
Many lawyers stayed away from the courtrooms on Monday in response to the strike called by the Bar Council of West Bengal to protest the three ‘hasty’ legislations in Parliament — Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam — replacing the Indian Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure and the Indian Evidence Act.
The hearing of a petition urging for an NIA probe in Nandigram had to be adjourned till Tuesday at Justice Amrita Sinha’s court as there was no representation from the state. A division bench of Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya had to adjourn the hearing of an appeal petition by the WBIDC to July 8 due to absence of the counsel for the appellant.
Senior counsel Billwadal Bhattacharya submitted to the division bench in another case that state counsels or for that matter lawyers can’t go on strike.
While members of Trinamool legal cell demonstrated against the legislation, Calcutta High Court Bar Association secretary Shankar Prosad Dalapoti said the association was against the ceasework.
Senior criminal lawyer Milon Mukherjee said, “Since morning, I received multiple queries from police officers trying to decipher police custody period changes in this new regime after arrest.”
Criminal lawyer Uday Shankar Chatterjee said: “Police under the new laws, can arrest a person without a warrant. Police may detain a person up to 24 hours without producing the arrested before the magistrate. These infringe our constitutional right.”
Criminal lawyer Jayanta Narayan Chatterjee while welcoming the new legislations said the system of handcuffing has come back under the new system.