Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Monday asked eight persons who protested in front of the lawyers' chambers seeking jobs to appear in front of it and explain why they should not be arrested.
A special bench of Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, Justice Arijit Banerjee and Justice Rajarshi Bhardwaj said that the eight people will have to appear in person in the court by 12:30 pm on June 16. If they cannot satisfy the court with their statements, then they can be arrested.
The names of the eight were mentioned in a case filed in the Calcutta High Court on April 25 in connection with the protest in front of the lawyers' chambers. They are Raju Das, Shuvendu Das, Atanu Roy, Tapankumar Mondal, Chandan Midda, Shivani Kuitti, Sanjay Bairagi and Trinamool spokesperson Kunal Ghosh (who allegedly fueled the incident). A special bench of three judges of the Calcutta High Court on May 2 had ordered them to file an affidavit in the court within 15 days. But Kunal appeared in the court on the day for the hearing of the case.
His lawyer asked for two days to file an affidavit. But a lawyer was present in the court on behalf of the rest of them. But none of them submitted an affidavit. After that, the bench of three judges ordered that contempt of court rules be issued against eight people. They will have to appear in court on June 16 and defend themselves and give their statements.
During the hearing on the day, Kunal's lawyer Biswaroop Bhattacharya said, "Kunal Ghosh was in Newtown at the time of the incident on a private channel. How can he be associated with this incident?"
Later, in response to questions from reporters, Kunal said, "I was not there during the protest. I do not support such behavior on the court premises. They know that the SLST Physical Education and Vocational Education candidates have behaved in an inappropriate manner. But the BJP, the Left and the Congress have implicated me in the case. I have full faith in the three-judge bench. They will understand that I have been implicated in the case for no reason."
Kunal further said, "The vocational training candidates saw Left and BJP lawyers supporting them in their dharna, but now after the state government gave them jobs, some of the lawyers are creating complications by filing counter-cases. We are in favor of their jobs. However, no chaos or objectionable behavior on the court premises should be tolerated." The report of the Kolkata Police Commissioner on the incident was also submitted to the special bench on the day.
