Chief Justice meets top cops after ‘lawyers’ lay siege to his house

Chief Justice of Madras High Court Sanjay Kishan Kaul Monday summoned DGP Ashok Kumar and city police commissioner S George after a group of 15 people, claiming to be HC lawyers, laid siege to his official bungalow Saturday night and sought the immediate hearing of anticipatory bail for two advocates.

“Not only did police not stop them from gathering there but also let them off without registering a case or making arrests,” said a court official. On Saturday night, Justice Kaul was in Delhi attending a conference of chief justices and chief ministers. “On his return, he was shocked to know that no case has been registered,” he said.

Sources said the Chief Justice called the top officers to point out lapses on the part of police in giving security to the high court campus and judges. “He sought immediate action on the incident. Justices R Sudhakar, R S Ramanathan, N Kirubakaran and advocate general Somayaji were also present at the meeting,” the official said.

On Monday morning, there were reports that the court will take a suo motu cognisance of the incident. “Justice Kaul and two other judges were expected to take up the matter. But it was later cancelled. Also, one of the senior judges reportedly took a stand against giving a notice to the police as it will show the government in bad light. So finally, he chose to summon the Commissioner and the DGP,” said the official.

K Tamizhmani, senior lawyer and president of Madras Bar Association said a section of lawyers want Justice Kaul to leave Chennai as he was honest and insisted on discipline in court proceedings. “There have been repeated incidents of lawyers’ unruly behaviour, but there has been no action from police,” he said. His organisation passed a resolution on Monday condemning Saturday’s incident.

This is not the first time Justice Kaul is facing a problem. In February 2015, a group of lawyers had stormed the court hall and raised slogans asking him to go back to his home state Jammu and Kashmir. The protest had been spurred by Justice Kaul’s refusal to entertain suggestions on judges’ appointments from a section of lawyers.

Source:: Indian Express