Judges traverse over 2000 km by road to assume charge as HC chief justices
Kolkata: With air and rail passenger services suspended due to a COVID-19-induced lockdown, two judges have embarked on a road journey, each of them covering over 2,000 km, as they gear up to take charge as chief justices of high courts in separate corners of the country.
The judges -- who were elevated to the position of high court chief justices only recently -- hit the road amid the nationwide shutdown to ensure trials and justice delivery system do not go off the track.
Justice Dipankar Datta, a judge at the Calcutta High Court, is taking turns with son to sit behind the steering wheel, as the family moved to Mumbai, where he would be taking over as the new Chief Justice of Bombay High Court, sources privy to the development said.
Allahabad High Court judge Justice Biswanath Somadder, who has been elevated as the Chief Justice of Meghalaya High Court, is driving to Shillong via Kolkata.
Justice Somadder, who had served at the Calcutta High Court before being transferred Allahabad, set out on the journey from the north Indian city along with wife on Friday evening in an official car, the sources said.
He had a chauffeur by his side, who took charge of the wheels from time to time. The judge reached Kolkata on Saturday afternoon, and left for Shillong in the evening, after a few hours of rest at his Salt Lake residence here.
He is scheduled to reach the Meghalaya capital on Sunday afternoon.
Justice Datta left for Mumbai from Kolkata on Saturday morning and plans to reach the country's financial capital by Monday afternoon with overnight breaks on the way.
President Ram Nath Kovind had on Thursday elevated Justice Dipankar Datta, senior judge of Calcutta High Court, as the Chief Justice of Bombay High Court, and appointed Justice Biswanath Somadder of Allahabad High Court as Chief Justice of Meghalaya High Court.
Both Justice Datta and Justice Somadder were elevated as permanent judges of the Calcutta High Court on June 22, 2006.
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Assam: 20 illegal immigrants pushed back to Bangladesh
Guwahati (PTI): Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday said 20 foreign nationals were apprehended in the state and pushed back to Bangladesh.
"Rude people don't understand soft language... We continuously remind ourselves of this prophetic line when we expel infiltrators from Assam who don't leave themselves. For instance, these 20 illegal Bangladeshis who were PUSHED BACK last night," Sarma said in a post on X.
He, however, did not share details pertaining to the location where they were nabbed or their nationality.
"Assam will fight, Pushbacks WILL CONTINUE," Sarma asserted.
Sribhumi, Cachar, Dhubri and South Salmara-Mankachar districts in Assam share 267.5 km of the international border with Bangladesh.
There is an Integrated Check Post (ICP) at Sutarkandi in Sribhumi. The northeast has a total of three ICPs along the India-Bangladesh border, the other two being at Dawki in Meghalaya and Akhaura in Tripura.
Another ICP in the region is at Darranga in Assam along the India-Bhutan border.
The Assam Police had earlier said that the force and the BSF would do everything possible to prevent any attempt by non-Indians to enter the country from Bangladesh, as per law, following a political turmoil in the neighbouring nation in 2024.
However, all Indian passport holders have been allowed to return from trouble-hit Bangladesh through the entry point in the state.
