Bengal: Bar association boycotts district judge's court for sending clerk to judicial custody

Kolkata, July 18 (IANS) A district bar association has boycotted the court of district judge in West Bengal since July 13 after the said judge sent a court clerk to judicial custody for his alleged involvement in panchayat poll related violence.

On July 11, the counting day for the rural polls, 11 persons were arrested and presented before the bench of Durgapur district court judge Asimananda Mondal.

One of them was Ratan Mondal, a clerk with the same court. On July 12, his counsel had moved his bail petition which was rejected by Asimananda Mondal, who remanded him to judicial custody.

From the very next day, the Durgapur Bar Association started to boycott the court of the said judge.

This is not the first time that judges are facing the wrath for one reason or the other.

Recently, Trinamool Congress’ national General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee had accused Justice Rajasekhar Mantha of the Calcutta High Court, without naming him, of giving “protection to anti-social elements”. 

Banerjee said this in connection with successive orders passed by Justice Mantha giving the leader of opposition in the state Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, shield against coercive action, including arrest, in a number of cases filed against him by the state police.

Following Banerjee's remarks, CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member and senior advocate of the Calcutta High Court, Bikas Ranjan Bhattacharya, had sought suo motu action by the court against the Trinamool leader.

Earlier, Trinamool spokesman Kunal Ghosh too had attacked Justice Mantha in unprecedented terms. The very next day, slanderous posters were pasted on the walls of the residence of Justice Mantha in Kolkata. What followed was a boycott of Justice Mantha’s bench by a section of the advocates close to the ruling party.

They not only boycotted Justice Mantha’s bench, but also prevented other advocates from attending his court. The chaos continued for over a week.