Kerala High Court summons 29 lawyers accused of shouting abusive slogans against Kottayam Magistrate

The Kerala High Court on Friday passed an order summoning twenty-nine lawyers allegedly part of a group of protesting lawyers who had hurled verbal abuses at a Chief Judicial Magistrate in Kottayam last month..A division bench of Justices Anil K Narendran and G Girish observed that the lawyers' acts prima facie appeared to be a case of contempt of court and ordered them to be present before the Court on December 15 at 2 PM, when it will next hear a suo motu contempt case initiated over the incident. “We find that the matter is not a trivial issue. Having considered the materials and laws settled, we find a prima facie case is made. We issue urgent notice to respondents to appear before this court on December 15 on 2 PM," the Court's order stated..The Court also expressed its disapproval over the abuse slogans hurled at the judicial officer after viewing a video clip of the lawyers' protest. “The language used in the protest ... (they) don’t consider she is a lady; she is a judicial officer,” the High Court orally observed. .On November 22, the Kottayam Bar Association had issued a notice stating that all advocates will be protesting the registration of a first information report (FIR) and the magistrate's alleged conduct towards lawyers. The magistrate court had earlier forwarded a complaint filed by the sheristadar of the court to the police, in which it was alleged that one, advocate Nawab had created and submitted false documents to the court to get his client released on bail.The notice by the Bar called for a boycott of court proceedings.The ensuing protests spanned the entire corridor of the court complex and the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Viveeja Sethumohan recorded the events in an order passed by her the very same day.In the order, magistrate recorded that the protesting lawyers were chanting "po pulle, podi pulle, CJM ye" and using abusive words.A video viewed by Bar & Bench confirmed the use of these slogans against the CJM..Around two hundred lawyers were said to have been part of the demonstration, led by advocates Sojan Pavianiyos and Benny Kurian. It was also stated that the President of the Kottayam Bar Association, advocate KA Prasad and its Secretary, advocate Tomy K James were amongst the protesters.After the video was circulated widely on messaging apps, the High Court initiated a suo motu contempt of court case against twenty-nine lawyers