KOLKATA: Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court Justice Manjula Chellur today said she had asked the registry to submit a report on unruly incidents caused allegedly by a section of lawyers at a city court yesterday over invoking a new charge against West Bengal Transport minister Madan Mitra in connection with the Saradha scam.
Senior lawyer Bikash Bhattacharya mentioned before the court of the Chief Justice the issue of a section of lawyers opposing the passage of order by Additional Chief Judicial magistrate Haradhan Mukhopadhyay over addition of more stringent section 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant) of IPC.
He prayed that the court take suo motu cognizance of the matter.
Justice Chellur said that she had already asked the registry of the high court to submit a report on the incident and that appropriate action would be taken on the basis of the report.
Judge Mukhopadhyay had last night incorporated section 409 of the IPC against Mitra in the Saradha chit fund scam case on a plea by CBI after hours of verbal duel with a section of lawyers who demanded a hearing before passing any order.
Mukhopadhyay incorporated the section on the ground that it had been inadvertantly dropped earlier.
CBI had moved the court seeking incorporation of Section 409 of IPC which allows a charge sheet to be filed against an accused within 90 days of arrest.
The IPC sections slapped earlier against Mitra, who was arrested on December 12 last, mandated the charge sheet to be filed within 60 days of arrest. He had been charged under sections 420 (cheating) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC.
Mitra had last Friday filed a bail plea in the Alipore District and Sessions Judge's Court and it is scheduled to come up for hearing on February 11.
There was high drama in the court room with a section of lawyers demanding that the defence lawyers be heard before passing any order.
They also told the court that as a senior lawyer passed away, they were not attending court as a mark of respect to the departed colleague and as such the judge should not pass any order in this matter.
Mukhopadhyay, however, remained firm and said that he would pass the order yesterday itself.
The verbal tussle continued between these lawyers and the judge for a few hours before the court finally passed the order.
Mitra is in Alipore Correctional Home now.