• Contempt proceedings initiated. At least 15 lawyers identified for disrupting judicial process security before Justice Mantha's house beefed up; all posters removed by police.

Hooliganism at the citadel of justice sullied the sanctity of Calcutta High Court on Monday.

Largescale chaos prevailed outside the courtroom of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha at the Calcutta High Court after a section of lawyers, many of them holding protest placards, virtually laid siege to the judge’s courtroom demanding that he be boycotted.

Their grievances, articulated in a three-page letter to the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, pertained to certain recent judgements of Mantha, who they said had “fallen short of his usual standards”.

Anonymous posters had also come up within the court premises against Mantha, referring to some of his judgements, including one in which the judge had stayed investigations against BJP leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly Suvendu Adhikari and removal of protection accorded to Trinamul Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee’s sister in-law in connection with a coal smuggling case.

Posters inside Cal HC premises The Telegraph picture

Posters outside Justice Rajasekhar Mantha's Jodhpur Park residence

The ensuing scuffle between the protestors and lawyers who tried to enter courtroom number 13 ignoring the siege paved the way for one of the most unruly scenes witnessed in the high court premises in recent times.

The chaos led to Mantha temporarily halting proceedings in his courtroom and leaving his seat in disgust.

Hearings remained suspended for over two hours at Mantha’s court and even after he resumed work, a significant section of lawyers stayed away from his court. Dates for some 400 cases listed for hearing on Monday had to be postponed.

Chief Justice summons AG

Taking serious note of the matter, Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava temporarily suspended hearing at his own court to convene a meeting of senior judges of the high court where he summoned state Advocate General Soumendra Nath Mookherjee and the Bar Association president for an explanation.

Chief Justice Shrivastava also scanned close circuit camera footage of the ruckus outside Mantha’s courtroom to identify the lawyers responsible for the chaos.

An attempt by the AG to pacify the protestors did not work, his appeal to withdraw the agitation failing to cut ice with the lawyers on dharna outside the courtroom. They sent him away stating, “Would you take responsibility if the judge dismisses petitions again?”

Not the first time

This wasn’t the first time that a section of lawyers protested against “judicial activism” in recent times and called for boycotting hearings in the courtroom of a particular judge. Barely a couple of months back Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who is hearing a bulk of the SSC recruitment scam cases and passed some landmark judgments in the matter, was also at the receiving end of a section of the practicing legal fraternity of the high court.

But what seemed to be without precedence in recent times are the anonymous posters which were put up within the court premises against judge Mantha. The posters titled “Shame Justice Mantha” referred to his staying of investigations against leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari and removal of protection accorded to Trinamul Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee’s sister in law Menaka Gambhir in connection with the Bengal coal smuggling case which is currently being investigated by the central agencies.

“Where’s the justice My Lord?” some of the posters went on to state.

Posters near judge’s home

Not just the high court, posters against Mantha made an appearance near his house too. The boundary walls of his residential premises at Jodhpur Park in south Kolkata were covered with the same posters, prompting local police to initiate an investigation.

A security guard at Justice Mantha’s residential apartment confirmed that some men, whom he couldn’t identify, had put them up late last night.

The protesting lawyers have submitted a three-page letter to the Chief Justice to justify their action. The letter, a copy of which has been accessed by The Telegraph Online, refers to some recent orders passed by Justice Mantha. It stated that he (Mantha) “has perhaps fallen short of his usual standards in recent times”.

Lawyers ask CJ to act

The lawyers went on to urge the Chief Justice to “relieve the Honourable Justice Rajasekhar Mantha from his current determination and liberate him from his current responsibilities so as to place him in an alternate determination where he is most likely to return to the form we have cherished and indeed missed for so long”.

Talking to this correspondent, one of the protesting lawyers said they were particularly peeved with judgments Mantha passed on cases concerning BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari and his brother Soumendu who were granted court immunity against police FIRs and other coercive police action, and alleged that the orders were “biased”.

“How could the court foresee what kind of laws Adhikari would break in future so as to offer him a pre-emptive protection against the police?” the lawyer questioned.

Demand: transfer Mantha’s cases

The protestors also demanded that all cases pertaining to police high-handedness or police inaction, which are currently listed with Mantha’s court, should be moved to a different bench.

Advocate and former Left mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, while mentioning the matter before the Chief Justice’s bench, said that such acts of chaos within court premises should be brought to the notice of the Supreme Court.

Till reports last received, the Chief Justice was yet to pronounce a decision on the nature of intervention he was mulling vis-à-vis the day’s developments.