Allahabad High Court Orders Identification of Advocates Involved in Corridor Protest

The Allahabad High Court has ordered that CCTV recordings be examined to identify advocates who raised slogans and disturbed court business in a corridor protest linked to an October 27 incident involving Justice Ajay Bhanot. The bench, led by Justice Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal, issued the directive while hearing a bail application and indicated that the matter could be referred to the Uttar Pradesh Bar Council for disciplinary measures, as well as face contempt proceedings.

The protest followed a letter from the Allahabad High Court Bar Association to Chief Justice Arun Bhansali, which accused Justice Bhanot of humiliating an advocate and mocking senior counsel VP Srivastava, and warned of a boycott of the judge’s courtroom if corrective action was not taken. Media reports said some lawyers also threw furniture inside Justice Bhanot’s courtroom, prompting the adjacent courtroom of Justice Deshwal to be disrupted.

"Such incident amounts to interference with the Court proceedings as poor litigants come to the High Court for redressal of their grievance, and merely because some of the Advocates have problem with particular Court, they cannot be permitted to raise slogans, shout and disturb other Courts' proceedings and use such words which is in the nature to intimidate the Court. This is wholly unjustified," said Justice Deshwal.

The court described the conduct as "absolutely contemptuous" and instructed the registrar (protocol) to obtain footage from the camera outside Court No. 66 and submit a report by the next hearing, scheduled for November 19.