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In a highly unusual move, the Telangana High Court Advocates Association (THCAA) on Thursday, June 26, organised a protest meeting against Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya. The meeting held in the High Court’s association hall witnessed over 300 advocates calling for a boycott of Justice Bhattacharya alleging that she was acting in a “high-handed manner” and “humiliating advocates.”
“This is not the first time. We had protested against her in September of last year as well. Senior lawyers met with her and told her that advocates are uncomfortable with the manner in which she has been treating them,” V Raghunath, a lawyer and former president of the THCAA, told TNM.
According to the judges’ roster, Justice Bhattacharya listens to criminal appeals, haebus corpus petitions, and matters pertaining to appeals from family and commercial courts.
Two advocates also told TNM that Justice Bhattacharya often dismissed appeals arbitrarily without hearing the case and fined appellants exorbitant amounts even if they weren’t able to pay the amount. “This has happened even in haebus corpus petitions where my petitioner was a daily wage worker.”
“Often the complaint the judge voices is that she is unable to understand what is being said even when the advocate is trying their best. This is tantamount to bullying,” R Prashant, another lawyer, said.
Advocates also argued that Justice Bhattacharya has on occasion stated that another lawyer from the legal services authority would be appointed for a client when she is unable to understand the advocate on record in a case. “This practice is only acceptable if the client doesn’t have a lawyer already. A judge ideally cannot dismiss a lawyer and override the client’s preferences,” Raghunath added.
Aside from this, advocates alleged that Justice Bhattacharya would dismiss cases without any reason even in matters of personal liberty, such as haebus corpus petitions.
“We’ve decided to boycott court number 5 (Justice Bhattacharya’s court) from Monday, June 30. Aside from this we’ll be writing to the President and Chief Justice of India asking for her to transferred, and until the transfer comes through we ask that no cases be alloted to her,” A Jagan, THCAA president, told TNM adding that lawyers have never had a problem with a judge in the High Court’s history.