Court boycott invites contempt notices for 26 lawyers in Meghalaya

The High Court of Meghalaya has issued contempt notices to 26 bar association office-bearers, observing that their call to boycott judicial work demanding the removal of Advocate General Amit Kumar was “completely unacceptable and illegal”.

The bench of Chief Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Justice H.S. Thangkhiew issued the contempt notices on Thursday (October 8, 2026) under Section 15 of the Contempt of Courts Act, read with Article 215 of the Constitution of India.

Hearing a suo motu PIL (public interest litigation), the bench said lawyers cannot use the courts to achieve their objective, noting that their protest since October 1 disrupted judicial work and left litigants without legal representation. The PIL was registered after the High Court of Meghalaya Bar Association and the Shillong Bar Association asked lawyers across the State to abstain from judicial work.

The row between the bar associations and Mr Kumar began after a senior lawyer allegedly molested a woman law intern on July 28. Six days later, Mr Kumar told the High Court that the bar association had failed to protect the intern.