It wasn’t just another day in court—it was a courtroom with a sense of humour. During the hearing of a criminal contempt case, the Calcutta High Court’s special bench found itself in the middle of an unexpectedly spirited exchange with Senior Advocate and sitting MP Kalyan Bandyopadhyay.
The bench, comprising Justices Arijit Banerjee, Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, and Rajarshi Bharadwaj, was hearing a suo motu contempt case involving TMC leader Kunal Ghosh when Bandyopadhyay—appearing as counsel—dropped a teaser from his parliamentary schedule.
“I’m flying to Delhi tomorrow,” he said, “for a Parliamentary Standing Committee meeting on Law and Justice. But if I tell you the topic, you might not like it.”
He didn’t leave the judges guessing for long.
“The agenda is—ethics of High Court and Supreme Court judges,” he added, wearing a grin wide enough to reach the bench.
Justice Bhattacharya fired back without missing a beat: “You create the law and then challenge it before us.”
Not to be outdone, Bandyopadhyay revealed the next item on the committee’s agenda: a proposal to bar retired Supreme Court and High Court judges from accepting post-retirement appointments.
Then came the punchline: “We’ll make the law, and you’ll strike it down.”
The courtroom chuckled. The bench smiled. Even in a contempt proceeding, there was room for wit.
In a judicial theatre often filled with solemnity, this moment stood out—a rare intersection where the lawmaker met the law-keeper, and both had their laugh.
