The Calcutta High Court on Friday directed the Kolkata Police Commissioner to submit a detailed report by May 19 on the alleged heckling of lawyers near the Court premises on April 25.

The Court also instructed the Commissioner to ensure the safety of legal professionals and take preventive measures against such incidents in the future.

A special three-judge bench—comprising Justices Arijit Banerjee, Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya, and Rajarshi Bharadwaj—was constituted by Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam after the Court took suo motu cognisance of the incident. The bench ordered an inquiry into the matter and directed the Commissioner to identify those responsible for the episode.

The alleged incident occurred at the junction of Kiran Shankar Roy Road and Old Post Office Street, adjacent to the High Court. The bench instructed the Police Commissioner to preserve all CCTV footage from the evening of April 25 for investigation purposes.

Observing that the incident may amount to criminal contempt by interfering with the administration of justice and undermining the judiciary, the bench issued notices to eight individuals named in a contempt petition. These individuals were granted liberty to respond within two weeks of receiving the notice, and were provided copies of all relevant affidavits and materials.

Senior advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya was reportedly among those heckled. On April 28, the Chief Justice’s bench directed that notices be served to the offices of the Advocate General, Additional Solicitor General, and the secretaries of the three major Bar bodies—the Bar Association, the Bar Library Club, and the Incorporated Law Society of the High Court.

The matter came to the Court's attention after several advocates reported that Bhattacharya and his colleagues had been “gheraoed and heckled” by a group of individuals outside their chambers, alleging that the assailants may have links to certain litigants. The lawyers also informed the Court that complaints had been filed with the police regarding the incident.