Contempt case: Kunal excused from appearing before HC
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Kolkata: Calcutta High Court on Monday dispensed with the personal appearance of Kunal Ghosh and other accused in a contempt of court case concerning a ruckus in front of chambers of high court lawyers at Old Post Office Street and Kiran Shankar Roy Road on April 25.
The division bench of justices Arijit Banerjee, Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya and Rajarshi Bharadwaj excused the personal appearance upon an undertaking that the alleged contemnors would appear as and when directed by the court.
Senior counsel for the accused, Kalyan Bandyopadhyay, opened his argument by pleading that the bench didn't have the jurisdiction to issue a contempt rule. "The CJ on his administrative side assigned the matter to the special bench.
It was not a judicial order," he argued.
Citing rules under the Calcutta High Court Contempt of Courts Act, 1975, Bandyopadhyay pleaded that the HC could issue a contempt rule on "its own motion" after hearing petitions of contempt that were moved before the bench.
Bandyopadhyay pointed out that no such petition had been moved before the division bench of CJ TS Sivagnanam and Justice Chaitali Chatterjee (Das) a day after the incident.
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