About 200 lawyers of the Barrackpore sub-divisional judicial magistrate?s court ceased work on Tuesday to protest alleged police harassment in court on Monday evening.

Earlier in the evening, a police complaint was lodged against lawyer Debajyoti Dutta for slapping constable on duty Tapan Aich after he asked Dutta not to carry a mobile phone into the courtroom.

?When I was entering the courtroom, a constable asked me to leave my cell phone outside. I tried to tell him that the phone was switched off, but he refused to allow me inside,? stated Dutta. Police refuted the lawyer?s claim.

Sugata Sen, sub-divisional police officer, Barrackpore, said: ?The lawyer was talking on his mobile phone while entering the courtroom. Since use of mobile phones is banned inside courtrooms, the constable on duty asked him to switch it off. The lawyer refused and picked up a quarrel. A scuffle followed. Other lawyers joined in. Constable Aich was heckled and slapped by them.? The constable was taken to BN Bose Hospital for treatment.

?Senior officers asked the constable to lodge an FIR to pressure the bar association since we were demanding arrangement of food for under-trials housed in court lock-up. At times, the prisoners have to spend nearly a day here without food. Their family members often have to bring food for them. Last week, a prisoner managed to escape on the pretext of getting food. Police are also allowing family members near the lock-up, which is not safe at all,? alleged Sushanta Das, a member of the court?s bar association.

?Since arranging for food will strain the police exchequer, they are trying to get back at us in this manner,? added Dutta, former secretary of the bar association.

Police have, meanwhile, iterated that no one will be allowed to enter the courtroom or lock-up with a mobile phone. ?This had to be done to beef up security in the court,? said Praveen Kumar, North 24-Parganas police superintendent.