PRAYAGRAJ Amid lawyers’ protests over the alleged conduct of Justice Ajay Bhanot, a division bench of the Allahabad high court took exception to a group of lawyers allegedly blocking the courtroom’s entry doors and preventing court staff from entering through the main gate.
The court observed that judicial proceedings cannot remain paralysed on account of lawyers deliberately abstaining from their duties. A division bench comprising Justice Ajay Bhanot and Justice Divesh Chandra Samant recorded that a large number of lawyers gathered outside the courtroom and created noise that impeded court proceedings. The court noted that lawyers prevented court staff from entering the courtroom through the main gate. In view of the situation, the court asked the staff to enter the courtroom through the door meant for the judges. The bench was hearing a criminal writ petition filed by Salman Akhtar, a resident of Farrukhabad, challenging an FIR registered against the applicant over allegations of sexual relations on a false promise of marriage, criminal intimidation, rioting, etc. The matter was taken up in the revised call. The court also requested the Chief Justice to consider issuing directions for registering FIRs against the lawyers allegedly involved and persons who circulated false social media posts about the incident.
The November 4 order was passed by the bench headed by Justice Bhanot. Earlier on October 29, the high court had ordered criminal contempt proceedings against a group of lawyers involved in ruckus inside a courtroom (no. 49) on October 27. Subsequently, a bench of Justice Bhanot and Justice Samant passed an order on November 2 finding that the acts of lawyers assaulting state law officers, court staff and security personnel and vandalizing a courtroom were prima facie criminal contempt.
“The court proceedings cannot stand paralyzed on account of lawyers who are deliberately absenting themselves from duty,” the court observed.
