Calcutta, July 22: The Bar Association, the largest organisation of lawyers at Calcutta High Court, today adopted a resolution to boycott the division bench headed by Justice Girish Chandra Gupta for an indefinite period, accusing him of misbehaving with a senior lawyer.

"Until the judge expresses his sorrow for the misbehaviour, the association members will not attend his court," the resolution stated.

Recounting what led to the resolution, high court sources said advocate Milan Mukherjee, along with his juniors, had moved anticipatory bail petitions for some accused in a criminal case around 12.45pm today. Two of the accused had earlier obtained anticipatory bail from another division bench.

"Referring to this, advocate Mukherjee told Justice Gupta that since two of the accused in the same case had already got anticipatory bail, his clients, who have been charged under similar sections, should also be granted anticipatory bail," a high court source said.

The source added: "In reply, Justice Gupta said there may have been a mistake in the order of the other division bench. Advocate Mukherjee requested Justice Gupta to dismiss his petition by observing that the other division bench had committed a mistake by granting the two accused anticipatory bail.

"The judge then raised his voice and asked advocate Mukherjee to sit down. Mukherjee felt insulted and left the courtroom. The other lawyers present in the courtroom also left."

Around 3.30pm, 130 lawyers of the high court made a joint representation requesting the Bar Association to convene a meeting to discuss the issue. A general body meeting of the association, to which 7,500 of the high court's 8,500 lawyers are attached, was held and the members adopted a resolution to boycott Justice Gupta's court for an indefinite period.

When this newspaper contacted advocate Mukherjee, he declined comment.

A senior advocate of the court said: "On a few earlier occasions, association members had boycotted some judges, including a former chief justice. In most of these cases, the stalemate was resolved with the intervention of senior lawyers. Justice Barin Ghosh, a former judge of the court, had apologised to advocate Kalyan Banerjee for his behaviour."

"Lawyers had boycotted Justice Ghosh's court after he allegedly misbehaved with Banerjee. But the next day, Justice Ghosh called Banerjee to his courtroom, came down from his chair and apologised to the lawyer. Banerjee soon rejoined Justice Ghosh's court."

The secretary of the Bar Association, Rana Mukherjee, said: "We have conveyed our resolution to the chief justice. We have resolved that our members will abstain from attending Justice Gupta's court till he apologises."