Advocates and senior members of the Borivli Advocates Bar Association protested against the absence of a magistrate in the Borivali Metropolitan Magistrates Court Number 67 on Friday. They appeared wearing red bands across their arms. "A black band wouldn't be visible over our uniforms so we went for red," senior advocate Kishore Joshi said.

The Borivli Metropolitan Magistrate Court No 67 has been without a judge for about six months now after the previous magistrate Suraj Kendre was promoted and transferred to Court No 24. According to Joshi, this has created a backlog of some 8,500 cases. "Three days after the judge was transferred, I, along with some advocates, wrote to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate and Guardian Judge to assign temporary presiding officers from Mazgaon, Girgaon and Esplanade Court to clear the backlog. But we've received no response.