Kolkata, Dec 30 (IANS): Starting from Justice Rajasekhar Mantha to Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay and Justice Jay Sengupta — unprecedented attacks on the judiciary by the ruling party leaders were a regular feature in West Bengal in 2023.
The latest blot on the West Bengal Government’s track record was the complaint to the President and Prime Minister by a senior counsel of Calcutta High Court who is also the husband of Justice Amrita Sinha, accusing the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the state police of intimidating him to give statements against his wife.
Senior Advocate of Calcutta High Court and CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, who has around four decades of experience both at the Supreme Court and High Court levels, says that this attack on the judiciary and targeting of family members of judges is a trend set by the ruling Trinamool Congress. He also says that unless checked immediately, this dangerous trend will take the shape of a pandemic in the near future.
“This is unprecedented and in a way it is a gift from the ruling Trinamool Congress to the country in 2023," Bhattacharya said during an exclusive interaction with the IANS.
He pointed out that previously, too, there had been rifts between sections of the judiciary and legal practitioners at Kolkata High Court however, in those cases there had been sporadic instances of boycott of the Bench of a particular judge for some time.
“However, those were sporadic and never done in an orchestrated manner as it is happening now. The way slanderous posters were pasted on the wall of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha’s residence and the ruckus at his Bench in the name of boycott was simply unthinkable. The manner in which a spokesman of the ruling party launched personal attacks against both Justice Mantha and Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay was unthinkable before. The way in which Justice Amrita Sinha’s husband, who is himself an acclaimed Calcutta High Court counsel, is being targeted by the ruling party and harassed through the CID does not paint a rosy picture of the state,” Bhattacharya added.
He emphasised that while there was nothing wrong in criticising a particular judgment strictly from the legal point of view, personal attacks against any judge or harassing the family members of a judge is unacceptable.
“During my four-decade-long career, I have never come across such instances, not only in West Bengal but anywhere in India,” Bhattacharya said.
He also expressed frustration with the Bar Association of the Calcutta High Court over its tepid response to the attacks on the judiciary. According to him, although some members of the association vociferously criticised the attacks, there were no orchestrated efforts on part of the association to condemn such developments.
“The current panel structure of the association is such that a more forceful initiative that might hurt the interest of the ruling party in the state cannot be expected,” he added.
Bhattacharya also expressed his opinion on why the Calcutta High Court should take suo motu cognisance and direct action against the offenders. He pointed out that in the incident of the harassment of Justice Mantha, the Calcutta High Court did take sumo motu cognisance and a probe was initiated. A Special Bench was also constituted to hear the matter.
“The investigating team has also submitted its preliminary investigation report and we are all waiting for the next hearing. How the honourable judges will react in such matters is their decision. But what I have seen is that often judges choose to ignore personal attacks, even those who fall victims of such attacks. Perhaps they feel it to be beyond their dignity to react,” he added.
However, he added at the same time, that it is high time that this growing tendency of launching personal attacks against the judiciary or harassing the family members of the judges should be bridled or this tendency might turn into a pandemic.
“On one hand, habitual offenders will be emboldened to make personal attacks against the judiciary more frequent and scathing as they won’t fear punishment. On the other hand, their actions will also encourage others to adopt similar methods if a judgment is not to their liking,” he added.