RANCHI: A full bench of the Jharkhand high court on Friday issued a criminal contempt notice to advocate Mahesh Tewari for a verbal spat between the advocate and Justice Rajesh Kumar on October 16. The full bench comprising Chief Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan and Justices Sujit Narayan Prasad, Rongon Mukhopadhyay, Ananda Sen and Rajesh Shankar held court in Court No. 1 and initiated the proceedings against advocate Mahesh Tewari.The Chief Justice queried the counsel about his actions before the court of Justice Rajesh Kumar, upon which advocate Mahesh Tewari informed the full bench that whatever he had said or done was well within his senses. The full bench then issued a criminal contempt notice on Tewari, directing him to file his response within three weeks. The case will again be heard on November 11. The court of the Chief Justice was full of advocates who had gathered to see the contempt proceedings. Before the proceeding was initiated, a video recording of live streaming of court proceedings of Justice Rajesh Kumar in court number 24 on October 16 was screened before the Chief Justice. The video recording showed the heated argument between advocate Mahesh Tewari and Justice Rajesh Kumar. Advocate Tewari had said that “The country is burning with the judiciary.” Jharkhand State Bar Council chairman Rajendra Krishna intervened in the matter and tried to pacify the situation.The incident, which was aired on YouTube, immediately went viral and started doing the rounds in WhatsApp groups and other social media portals. The high court registered a criminal contempt case against advocate Mahesh Tewari on October 17, and the case was listed as the first matter before the full bench.