Kolkata: Business in the Calcutta High Court came to a halt on Monday due to lawyers’ protest following an assault on a high court advocate at the Nepalganj police outpost under Bishnupur police station in South 24 Parganas on Sunday.
The incident had happened when lawyer Sourav Mandal accompanied his client to the Nepalganj police outpost over a land dispute.
Calcutta High Court lawyers stayed away from the court rooms following a resolution adopted by the Calcutta High Court Bar Association. Association secretary Sankar Prasad Dalapati drew the attention of the chief justice of the Calcutta High Court on this matter.
The association chose to do a rethink only after senior police officers came to the high court on Monday afternoon and tendered a written apology for what had happened on Sunday. The association, however, did not immediately withdraw its strike and said it will meet again at 10.30 am on Tuesday.
Diamond Harbour SP Rahul Goswami also served a show-cause notice to sub-inspector Sudipto Sanyal on Monday and sought a reply on the same day. The SP, in the show-cause, wanted an explanation from the sub-inspector on the unlikely behaviour from one of the members of the “disciplined force”. Cops ordered an inquiry into the incident.
Advocate Sourav Mandal complained that police officer on duty Sudipta Sanyal had joined the discussion drunk and started abusing the lawyer and his client. Mandal, in his written complaint to the director general of police, stated that Sanyal had dragged the lawyer to the floor and beat him mercilessly. Mandal was injured and had to be rushed to Amtala rural hospital.
The high court advocate appealed to the police brass for preserving the CCTV footage at the Nepalganj police outpost on Sunday. Mandal also complained that the sub-inspector had threatened the advocate saying that he would be implicated in a narcotics case.
The day-long cease-work will impact the case disposal in Calcutta High Court. The HC has 1.6 lakh pending cases in the appellate side and another 16,720 cases pending in its original side, according to the National Judicial Data Grid. In June, the HC’s appellate side was able to dispose 4,267 cases and the original side was able to dispose 212 cases. The HC now has 34 permanent judges and 10 additional judges. The sanctioned strength of the HC is 72.