Kolkata, 13 July (H.S.): The Calcutta High Court on Monday imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 on Trinamool Congress MLA Kunal Ghosh and Rs 1,000 each on the other accused in connection with the gherao and alleged harassment of the chambers of senior advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya and advocates Firdaus Shamim and Bikram Bandyopadhyay.

A special three-judge bench held all the accused guilty of criminal contempt of court and pronounced the order on Monday.

The case relates to protests that followed a High Court order concerning the recruitment of upper primary school teachers. A group of teachers, allegedly backed by the Trinamool Congress, had gheraoed the chambers of lawyers representing deprived job aspirants. During the protest, Justice Basu's photograph was also allegedly desecrated.

The petitioners alleged that Kunal Ghosh had instigated the protesters and made several provocative statements to the media before and after the incident. Taking these allegations into consideration, the special bench imposed the monetary penalties on Ghosh and the other contemnors.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Priyanka Pandey