AURANGABAD: Eminent economist H M Desarda (73) was denied entry into the Sant Tukaram Cidco auditorium where members of the judiciary and lawyers had gathered to celebrate the 36th foundation day of the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay high court on Sunday morning.On Friday, Desarda had sent an open letter by Speed Post to the chief justice of the HC Manjula Chellur as well as to Supreme Court judge Uday Lalit , calling for an end to practices such as referring to the judge as “my lord” and “lordship”.Desarda and his grandson Rahul (24), who is pursuing his post-graduation in law, were detained by the police as soon as they reached the auditorium at 11 am and taken to the Cidco police station.When contacted, the police said their action was based on an intimation by the High Court Bar Association of Aurangabad. Cidco police inspector Kailash Prajapati said, “The preventive action was taken based on a letter issued by the bar association. The association had expressed apprehensions that Desarda may cause some problem. We were told that entry to the auditorium was through invitation only.”In his letter, Desarda had called for a democratization of practices and precedents in the judiciary and had cited examples where the judges were referred to as “my lord” and “lordship”, which he said were colonial in nature.Referring to the judgments on triple talaq and the right to privacy, the letter hailed the apex court for coming to the rescue of commoners and empowering them in terms of fundamental rights. It also referred to the Justice Abhay Oka incident and said that taking into view all the positive things that happen in the higher courts, what happened in Maharashtra was a matter of “great anguish”.After his detention, Desarda told TOI, “I have been illegally detained by the police and they have failed to give me anything in writing, including the letter they claim to have received from the bar association. It (foundation day celebrations) was a public event and all citizens were invited.”Soon after the detention, socialists, communists and people from different walks of life began trooping into the Cidco police station.Addressing a press conference on Sunday evening, socialist leaders demanded an explanation from the police for “obstructing a senior citizen as well as a law student from attending a public event”. The leaders demanded action against the Cidco police and said a representation would be made to the police commissioner on Monday. They even threatened to lodge an agitation if action was not taken against the police.The bar association’s president, lawyer Ravindra Deshmukh, told TOI, “The elderly economist has a precedent of disturbing one such key event earlier. As a precautionary measure, the vice-president of our association gave a written letter to the police expressing apprehensions about Desarda.”Deshmukh said there was a possibility of Desarda directly asking questions to the dignitaries present for the celebrations.