The Calcutta HC Monday initiated contempt proceedings against a lawyer who cursed a judge saying the latter would be “infected by coronavirus”, after the judge refused to give an urgent hearing to his case.
The order, delivered by Justice Dipankar Datta, says that when he was dictating his order, advocate Bijoy Adhikary “obstructed the course of administration of justice by not only interfering repeatedly in the course of dictation but also first thumped the addressing table & then banged the microphone on it, more than once”.
Adhikary then “cursed” the judge that his “future shall by doomed by him” & that he would be “infected by coronavirus”.
“Mr. Adhikary was warned to behave but instead of heeding to such warning, he was heard to say that my future shall be doomed by him a& for such purpose he cursed that I be infected by the Coronavirus,” the order noted.
Adhikary had approached the court for an urgent hearing, submitting that his client’s bus would be put up for auction by the Allahabad Bank on 25 Mar & sought an interim order restraining them from doing so. The bus had been seized on 15 Jan from the petitioner after he failed to pay his debt.
The court, however, felt that the petitioner himself had “created an urgent like situation” by approaching the court two months after the bus was seized.
“The petitioner can't, by his own conduct, create an urgent like situation during the present disturbing times a& seek a hearing in the absence of the respondents much after seizure of the bus was effected on 15th Jan, 2020,” it observed, while refusing the prayer for urgent hearing.
The court order then notes that while Justice Datta was dictating the order, Adhikary misbehaved & cursed the judge.
The judge then “curtly” told Adhikary that “neither do I fear dooming of my future nor being infected by the virus; the majesty of the Court is what is paramount in my mind & to uphold that a rule for contempt could be issued against him”.
The court felt that Adhikary’s conduct prima facie amounted to criminal contempt & initiated contempt proceedings against him.
Adhikary has been given a fortnight to respond to the court. The matter will be taken up by a division bench when the court reopens after the summer vacations.
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