In a shocking incident that could probably be a first in the history of the Indian judiciary, Karnataka high court chief justice PD Dinakaran and two other senior judges were assaulted by agitating advocates on Monday.
The two senior judges, justices V Gopala Gowda and BV Nagarathna, were also detained in a court room by the advocates who were angered that they were hearing cases despite a call to boycott all proceedings in courts across the state on Monday.
The Advocates' Association of Bangalore had called for the boycott to protest against justice Dinakaran's decision to continue to attend court hearings despite him not being cleared of allegations of amassing huge assets, of corruption and of serious irregularities while disposing of cases.
The drama unfolded at about 10.30 am when the advocates noticed that despite the bar members staying away from the courts, some judges were attending hearings. When the news spread, about 200 advocates gathered at the high court premises to express anguish that judges were hearing cases without advocates being present in court rooms.
At around 11.25am, the advocates barged into court room 1, where justice Dinakaran was hearing cases. They verbally attacked him, and a sharp object was reportedly hurled at him, causing him a minor injury.
But the agitators continued hurling abuses at him. Senior advocate Pramila Nesargi also requested the chief justice not to continue with the hearing, but justice Dinakaran held his ground. However, after 20 minutes of drama inside the court room, he was forced to leave the court room when the agitated group did not relent.
The advocates then roamed the high court corridors before entering the court room where justices Gopala Gowda and Nagarathna were hearing cases. At first, the advocates requested the judges not to continue with the hearings, but when they continued to hear the cases, they started singing the national anthem, followed by bhajans.
They then started using filthy language and began throwing papers and books at the two judges. Some advocates had even got hold of chairs and were holding them aloft.
However, when the judges did not give up, the advocates moved out and locked all the four doors of the court room with the two judges inside. They also switched off the power to the court rooms.
Finally, at about 2pm - after over two hours of detaining justices Gopala Gowda and Nagarathna, justice Dinakaran came with the police and rescued them. By 2.30 most of the advocates had disappeared from the high court premises.
Justice Gopala Gowda later said: "There was threat to our lives. Head of the institution (chief justice Dinakaran) was assaulted, my sister judge (BV Nagarathna) manhandled. They threw papers and books at us. They used filthy language. They then locked the court and they cut the power also. But we cannot be cowed down by this; we will work without fear. We are magnanimous."
