The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday served a suo moto notice on CPI(M) leaders Biman Bose, Benoy Konar and Shyamal Chakraborty for making adverse comments on the judiciary and judges of the court.A division bench of Chief Justice SS Nijjar and Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose also asked the trio to show cause as to why contempt of court proceedings should not be launched against them.The court’s action came after the Bar Association, Bar Library Club and Incorporate Law Society showed it clippings of print media reports quoting the three leaders making adverse comments on the court over its Nandigram judgments. The media reports were based on the speeches of the three leaders at a CPI(M) rally on November 17, which the party had called to motivate its cadres in the face of strong comments passed by Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi and civil society about the way CPI(M) cadres had gone on the rampage to recapture Nandigram earlier this month. The leaders had directed some caustic comments at the court for its orders relating to the bloody March 14 police firing at Nandigram. For Biman Bose, contempt of court is not new: in 2005, he had invited the court’s wrath by stating in public that Justice Amitava Lala should quit Bengal. In the latest instance, Bose had been quoted as saying: “The courts have become proactive and are deciding what the government should or should not do. Then what is the need to have a legislative assembly or elections? Just increase the pay of the judges and democracy will function!” Konar, a CPI(M) front leader, had been quoted as saying: “We never knew that the governor, high court, media and civil society could suffer such pangs of conscience — everybody’s conscience seems to be terribly stirred.” Chakraborty, who is also the state president of the CITU, had reportedly said: “The high court has said it (the March 14 police firing) had been unconstitutional and unjustified. Then what is the need for a CBI inquiry?” Bose was not available to comment on the court’s action.
