Calcutta High Court (Appellete Side)
CRLCP/1/2023 on 8 February, 2023
Author: T. S. Sivagnanam
Bench: T. S. Sivagnanam
08.02.2023
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ns/pg Ct.16
CRLCP 1 of 2023
The Court on its own motion.
Mr. S. N. Mookherjee, Ld. Advocate General,
Mr. Anirban Ray, Ld. G. P.
Mr. Arunava Ghosh, Sr. Adv.,
Mr. Anant Kr. Shaw
... for the Bar Association, High Court, Calcutta
Mr. Vipul Kundalia,
Mr. Kaushik Mandal
... for the Incorporated Law Society
of High Court, Calcutta.
Mr. Ajay Chatterjee, Sr. Adv.,
... for the High Court Bar Library Club.
Mr. Avinash Kankani
... for the Bar Council of India.
Mr. Kishore Dutta, Sr. Adv.,
Mr. T. M. Siddique,
Mr. Imtiaz Ahmed,
Mr. Dipanjan Datta,
Mr. Siddhadev Adak ... for the Bar Council of W.B.
Reference may be made to our order dated
17th January, 2023. After taking note of the order
passed by the Learned Single Bench initiating suo
motu contempt qua the incident, which took place
outside the Court Room No.13 on 9th January, 2023
and the directions issued by the Hon'ble the Chief
Justice constituting this Bench to hear this criminal
contempt proceedings, we had issued directions and
orders. The operative portion of the order reads as
follows:-
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"In order to effectively take forward the
matter, we are inclined to issue the following
directions /orders.
(i) Issue notice to the Commissioner of
Police, Kolkata and such notice is
accepted by Mr. Anirban Ray,
Learned Government Pleader.
(ii) Issue notice to the Assistant
Commissioner of Police, High Court,
Calcutta and such notice is
accepted by Mr. Anirban Ray,
Learned Government Pleader.
(iii) Issue notice to the Officer-in-Charge
of the Lake Police Station, Kolkata
for whom the Learned Government
Pleader has accepted notice.
The Commissioner of Police, Kolkata is
directed to file a report before this Court as to who
was the person, who had placed the order for
printing the posters containing certain defamatory
statements about the Hon'ble Judge, the printer who
printed the posters and the persons, who were
engaged to affix those posters.
The Assistant Commissioner of Police,
High Court, Calcutta is directed to furnish the
requisite certificate in terms of Section 65B of the
Evidence Act read with the provisions of the
Information Technology Act, 2000 as amended.
The Officer-in-Charge of the Lake Police
Station, Kolkata is directed to submit all records and
materials concerning the matter before the
Commissioner of Police, Kolkata to enable the
Commissioner to file a report in terms of the
directions contained above.
For the purpose of assisting this Court in
the present proceedings, which have been initiated
to protect the dignity and decorum of this Court and
also to remind the legal fraternity that they are part
of a noble profession and no act of theirs shall
prejudice the proceedings conducted by this Court
and the oath of office administered to them when
they were enrolled as the Members of the Bar.
Therefore, we require the assistance of the following
entities:-
(i) The Bar Council of India,
(ii) The Bar Council of West Bengal,
(iii) The Bar Association of High Court at
Calcutta,
(iv) The Bar Library Club and
(v) The Incorporated Law Society, High
Court, Calcutta.
The registry is directed to serve notices on
the aforementioned parties along with the copy of
this order so as to enable them to render their
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necessary assistance to this Court to proceed with
this matter.
As pointed out earlier, the letter given by
the learned Advocate dated 11th January, 2023 does
not furnish the adequate particulars for the Court to
issue notices to those persons by impleading them
as contemnors in this proceedings. Therefore, for
the present, we shall await the appearances of the
Bar Council of India as well as the Bar Council of
West Bengal and the three wings of the Bar and the
report of the police and by then, the requisite
certificate would be issued by the concerned police
authority so as to enable this Court to take on record
the contents of the pen drive stated to contain the
CCTV footages as well as the still photographs as
received from the CCTV concerning the incidents in
front of Court room no.13 on 9th January, 2023, 10th
January, 2023 and 11th January, 2023.
Since this Court is seized of this matter,
we direct that no meetings, processions, agitations,
shall be held or placards shall be displayed within
the premises of this Court or anywhere else
concerning the subject issue and this direction shall
be given due publicity by the Registrar General by
intimating to the three wings of the Bar as well as
displaying the same in the notice board and also
posting the same in the official website of this
Hon'ble Court.
We request the learned Advocate General
to assist us in this proceedings in the next hearing
as well.
The original letter of the Assistant
Commissioner of Police, High Court, Calcutta dated
13th January, 2023 along with the sealed envelope
and the letter of Mr. Tapas Maity, Learned Advocate,
dated 11th January, 2023 shall be kept in safe
custody of the Registrar General of this Court.
List the matter on 2nd February, 2023 at
2.30 P.M."
In terms of the directions issued above, the
Commissioner of Police, Kolkata has filed a report
before this Court in a sealed cover containing three
copies. The Assistant Commissioner of Police, High
Court at Calcutta has furnished certificate dated 24 th
January, 2023 in terms of Section 65B of the Indian
Evidence Act read with the provisions of the
Information Technology Act, 2000, as amended, and
submitted the same to the learned Registrar General.
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The Bar Council of India, the Bar Council of
West Bengal, the Bar Association of High Court at
Calcutta, the Bar Library Club and the Incorporated
Law Society, High Court at Calcutta are being
represented by their respective learned Advocates.
We have opened the sealed cover containing
the video footage of the CCTV recordings in front of
Court Room No.13 as well as inside the Court Room
No.13 and the pen drive was played in the open Court,
which consists of still photographs and video footage of
the incident of 9th January, 2023. The Registrar
General is directed to supply copies of the recordings
submitted by the police in the pen drive to the Learned
Advocate General, the learned Government Pleader,
Bar Council of India, the Bar Council of West Bengal,
the Bar Association of High Court at Calcutta, the Bar
Library Club and the Incorporated Law Society, High
Court at Calcutta.
The CCTV recordings are shared with the
aforementioned persons / entities to enable them to
identify such of those members of the Bar, who had
obstructed the entry of lawyers inside Court Room
No.13 on 9th January, 2023 and who had raised
slogans, etc. We are confident that the above
persons / entities will assist the Court in proper
identification of those lawyers, who will thereafter be
made parties to the proceedings and would be heard in
the matter.
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The Commissioner of Police, Kolkata has
filed a report dated 1st February, 2023. In the said
report, apart from other things, it has been stated that
the officers-in-charge of the Police Stations had
examined 89 persons and their statements have been
recorded under Section 161 of the Cr.P.C., 1973. Apart
from this, both the police stations, namely, Lake Police
Station and Hare Street Police Station gave notice
under Section 91 of the Cr.P.C. to 20 persons for
production of CCTV footages and have collected and
seized CCTV footages of seven places. Both the police
stations have also visited and examined as many as 39
printing press owners / managers under the
jurisdiction of Kolkata Police and during the process of
investigation, police had collected call data, tower
dump as well as the IPDR dump to zero in on the
suspects. The details have been submitted in
Annexure I to the report. Further, it has been stated
that majority of the miscreants as seen in the CCTV
footages obtained in Lake Police Station area have
covered their face with masks, which made the job of
identification a bit difficult. Yet, it has been stated that
the following persons were found to be involved in
affixing posters in the vicinity of the residence of the
Hon'ble Judge and the premises of the High Court at
Calcutta. Their names being :
1.Abhishek Manna (27), s/o Shyamal Manna of 49/7/B, Block - A, Dingsaipara Road, Bally, Howrah.
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2. Mithun Das of BallyRail Quarter.
3. Sunny Majhi S/o Arun Majhi, 5C, G.T. Road, Bally, Howrah.
4. Rahul Bagdi of 5C, G.T. Road, Bally, Howrah.
5. Prasenjit Das s/o Narayan Chandra Das of 43, Dasnagar Colony, PS - Lake, Kolkata - 45
6. Zakir Baidya of P-73, Prince Anwar Shah Road, PS-Lake, Kolkata - 700045.
Further, the report states that utmost effort to identify the printing press where such posters have been printed and also for identification of the person, who allegedly ordered for such printing has been made and the police has sought help of Central Forensic Science Laboratory for helping to identify the nature of papers, ink, etc. so as to derive information that may help in the process of investigation of the cases and identify the possible printing press behind the act.
The Central Forensic Science Laboratory has stated that they do not have expertise to comment on the requested matter. Further, it is stated that the number of printing presses to be examined is more than 250 and the police have to also need to cover some area even beyond the jurisdiction of Kolkata Police. Therefore, prayer has been made to grant three weeks' time so as to identify the printing press from where the persons, who have given the orders for printing the posters, which have been found in the 7 vicinity of the residence of the Hon'ble Judge and the High Court at Calcutta.
The preliminary report submitted by the Commissioner of Police dated 1st February, 2023 is taken on record and six persons whose names have been mentioned in the preceding paragraphs shall be impleaded as alleged contemnors in this suo motu proceedings.
Let notice be issued to the six alleged contemnors returnable on the next date of hearing.
So far as the report of the Commissioner of Police, Kolkata qua the identification of the printing press where the posters were printed and the persons, who have placed the order for printing of such posters, we are not fully convinced with the stand taken by the Commissioner of Police. Had the investigation been more vigorous, by now the miscreants would have been identified. In any event, we do not wish to foreclose the prayer made by the Commissioner of Police, Kolkata for granting further time to identify the printing press and the persons, who had given the order for printing the posters.
The letter written by Mr. Tapas Maity to the Registrar General dated 11th January, 2023, which we had referred in our order dated 17th January, 2023 shall be taken on record.
The statutory body and the associations, who have been requested to assist this Court in this proceedings with a direction to identify those lawyers, 8 who were part of the incident which took place on 9 th January, 2023 shall submit an affidavit disclosing the names.
In the light of the above, the following orders / directions are issued.
(i) The CCTV footage furnished in the pen drive along with the certificate furnished by the police under Section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act is taken on record.
(ii) The letter written by Mr. Tapas Maity addressed to the learned Registrar General dated 11th January, 2023 is taken on record.
(iii) The report submitted by the Commissioner of Police along with Annexures in three copies is taken on record.
(iv) The Registrar General shall furnish copies of the video footage to the Learned Advocate General, the learned Government Pleader, Bar Council of India, the Bar Council of West Bengal, the Bar Association of High Court at Calcutta, the Bar Library Club and the Incorporated Law Society, High Court at Calcutta.
(v) The Associations/Bar Committee shall file the report in the form of an 9 affidavit/affidavits before the Court on the next hearing date.
(vi) The Registrar General shall take assistance of the Registrar (IT), High Court at Calcutta to make copies of the video footages contained in the pen drive furnished by the police authorities.
(vii) The pen drive and all the documents shall be kept in safe custody of the Registrar General to be placed before this Court on the next date.
(viii) In terms of the prayer made by the Commissioner of Police, Kolkata in his report dated 1st February, 2023, time for filing further report is extended till the next date of hearing.
List the matter on 15th March, 2023.
( T. S. Sivagnanam, J.) (I. P. Mukerji, J.) (Chitta Ranjan Dash, J.)