An incident inside the Siliguri Sub-Divisional Court has triggered controversy after an accused allegedly shouted “Jai Shri Ram” during court proceedings after noticing that the woman Judicial Magistrate was wearing a hijab.
The incident reportedly took place on Wednesday in Court No. 4, where 24 accused persons had been directed to appear in connection with a case dating back to 2018.
Lawyers’ associations have condemned the incident, saying religious or political slogans have no place inside a courtroom. The lawyer representing the accused, however, immediately tendered an unconditional apology and maintained that the slogan was not directed at the judge.
Case Dates Back to 2018
The case relates to an incident in 2018 involving an interfaith marriage. At the time, a group of people reportedly raised allegations of “love jihad” and marched from Baghajatin Park towards the Siliguri Sub-Divisional Magistrate’s office on Hill Cart Road to submit a memorandum.
Police subsequently registered a case against 24 people in connection with the incident.
Some of the accused had already obtained bail, while warrants were reportedly issued against others, requiring them to appear before the court. All 24 were called to the court in connection with the proceedings.
Accused Allegedly Shouts Slogan During Attendance
According to reports, the accused were standing in the courtroom as their names were being called for attendance.
During this process, one of the accused allegedly looked towards the judge and shouted “Jai Shri Ram” after noticing that she was wearing a hijab.
The incident reportedly caused a commotion inside the courtroom.
The accused’s lawyer, Tridip Saha, immediately apologised to the court while maintaining that the slogan had not been directed at the judge.
Lawyer Says Slogan Was Not Directed at Judge
Saha described the incident as inadvertent and said expressions such as “Jai Shri Ram” and “Radhe Radhe” are sometimes used by people as greetings.
He said the accused uttered the phrase while names were being called and that the legal team apologised as soon as they realised that it could be perceived as inappropriate in the courtroom.
“This was not directed at the judge. Many people use phrases like ‘Jai Shri Ram’ or ‘Radhe Radhe’ as a form of greeting. When the names were being called, one of the accused uttered the words without realising the implications. Nevertheless, we apologised immediately for the incident,” Saha said.
Lawyers Condemn Incident
The incident drew criticism from members of the legal fraternity.
Uday Shankar Malakar, president of the Siliguri Bar Association, described the episode as “completely untoward” and said such conduct was not appropriate inside a courtroom.
“This is a completely untoward incident. Such occurrences are not at all desirable within a courtroom. The court could have initiated suo motu proceedings had it wished to do so,” Malakar told the media.
Dibakar Roy, Darjeeling district secretary of the All India Lawyers Association, also stressed the need to maintain the neutrality and dignity of court proceedings.
He said a courtroom is a forum for impartial justice and must remain separate from religious and political controversies. According to Roy, religious or political slogans should not be raised inside a courtroom under any circumstances.
