Bombay High Court

Dr Manjula Chellur

journalist

jeans

T-shirt

broadsheet

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

Bar associations refuse to conduct cases

The chief justice of the, hauled up ayesterday for being casually dressed inand a, adding “Is this Bombay culture?”On Wednesday, after the hearing of a case got over, the Chief Justice turned towards a person standing to the left of the bench, and asked if that person was a journalist. The Government’s lawyer responded that he was one of the staff of her office and pointed out that journalists were standing behind that person. She then turned her attention to a senior male reporter from aand questioned him about his attire and asked if jeans and T-shirt were appropriate clothes to wear while covering court proceedings. “Is this Bombay culture?” she asked. She then turned towards Advocate SS Pakale, who appears for the, and asked if this was ‘Bombay culture’. To this he said that they haven’t told reporters about the dress code. The CJ then remarked that reporters needed to keep the decorum of the court in mind.The journalist concerned was wearing a halfsleeved collared t-shirt and blue jeans. More than ten journalists, across print and television media, were present in court when this happened. As the proceedings for which they had gathered in that court room had gotten over, all of them left the court immediately after this episode.Justice Chellur was sworn in as Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court in August 2016. She has earlier served as Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court and Kerala High Court.Lawyers from all three bar associations refused to conduct cases, except those which required urgent attention, on Wednesday in protest over the alleged slapping of a lawyer by a policeman.Sub Inspector Sajjan Langde allegedly slapped advocate Dilip Gupta a few days ago for not revealing the whereabouts of his client, an accused in the murder of a 12-year-old boy.