Kolkata, Oct. 8 -- A day after the Calcutta High Court urged lawyers to call off strikes over incidents in court premises, lawyers on Thursday toned down their protest by putting on hold their proposed march to Lalbazar after BJP leader Kushal Pandey surrendered before the investigating authority.
Pandey's arrest was among the principal demands raised by lawyers in connection with the recent incidents, including egg pelting on court premises, and alleged attack on lawyers that had triggered protests within the legal fraternity.
The Bar Association of the City Sessions and Chief Judicial Magistrate Court, Calcutta, said Pandey had surrendered and was presently in the custody of the investigating authority.
Following the development, the association decided to keep Thursday's "Lalbazar Abhijan", scheduled for noon, in abeyance until further decision. An emergency general body meeting has been convened at 11.30 am on Friday to review the situation and decide the future course of action.
Representatives of Bar Associations across West Bengal have also been invited to attend the meeting.
The move came a day after a High Court division bench expressed concern over a series of untoward incidents in court premises and urged lawyers at two courts to withdraw their strikes, cautioning that continued abstention could cause serious hardship to litigants.
The bench was hearing a suo motu PIL following the alleged attack on advocate Sayan Banerjee after he appeared in a criminal proceeding at Baruipur court. The court directed preservation of CCTV footage showing an unidentified person allegedly throwing an object and listed the matter for October 12.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.