Goodbye, Protik Da

Justice Protik Prokash Banerji and I would have never come in contact with each other but for the fact that I was chosen to be the Student Director of the Society for Advancement of Criminal Justice at the National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS), my alma mater.  I was a 22-year old penultimate year law student when I first met Protik Da, as I used to fondly call him, in 2011. I had invited him to NUJS to talk about the impact of the Aruna Shanbaug case and he graciously accepted my invitation. Since then, I have seen him from close quarters as an effective mentor, a fine lawyer, an upright judge, and above all, a very good human being.

Born on June 1, 1969, Justice Banerji did his schooling from Calcutta Boys' School and read a five-year law course at the University College of Law (Hazra campus), one of West Bengal's top law schools. He joined the Calcutta bar in 1995 and became the Vice President of the Calcutta Bar Association in 2015. Early on in his legal career, he was trained by some of the finest lawyers at the Calcutta bar, including Kalyan Banerjee, Senior Advocate and a sitting Lok Sabha MP. In September 2017, he took oath as Additional Judge of the Calcutta High Court. 

"I remember once asking Protik Da why he chose law and his answer was quick and short: "bro, actually, it is law that chose me!""

Justice Banerji belonged to a family of lawyers. His father, Late Mukul Prokash Banerji, was a Senior Advocate of the Calcutta High Court. His mother, Late Lekha Banerji, was also a lawyer, although she discontinued her practice after some time to look after the family. I remember once asking Protik Da why he chose law and his answer was quick and short: "bro, actually, it is law that chose me!" Justice Banerji's father always wanted him to become a doctor. However, he somehow saw himself inclined to pursue a career in law.

That decision later became a point of long-lasting friction with his father, and both ended up not speaking to each other for many years. Justice Banerji joined the Calcutta bar in 1994 with a desire and passion to become a fine arguing Counsel. Despite his father being a Senior Advocate, Justice Banerji did not enjoy much of the privileges that a second-generation lawyer would ideally have in the elite world of litigation. Two months into the profession, Justice Banerji's father, his first mentor, removed him from his Chambers. He would often recollect how he did not have enough money to eat a proper lunch when he started out and was too ashamed to ask for money from his father.