Angry lawyers ransack chief justice’s room in Kolkata
By IANSFriday, June 25, 2010
KOLKATA - Agitated lawyers Friday ransacked the room of the Calcutta High Court chief justice and stopped work state-wide to protest their forcible eviction from a room in the court premises.
A group of slogan-shouting lawyers vandalised the room of outgoing Chief Justice Mohit Shah by breaking the glass panes of the door and upturning the furniture and other items, said court employees.
The lawyers, however, denied they had caused any damage.
Work came to a standstill in courts across the state due to the stop-work call of the West Bengal Bar Council in protest against the police action on them Thursday night.
Calcutta High Court Bar Association members also held protest demonstrations and took out rallies around the court demanding an apology from police commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakrabarti for the “police high-handedness”.
Trouble started after some lawyers occupied the disputed room on the third floor Thursday saying it had been given to court registrars without informing them.
The lawyers Thursday occupied the 1,000 sq ft room after court hours, and maintained it should be permanently allotted to them as there was a paucity of sitting space for the 5,500 members of the Association.
Police moved in at around 11 p.m. and forced the lawyers out, triggering the protest.
