The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the West Bengal’s government petition against Calcutta High Court’s order granting protection to leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari.
Dismissing the plea, the apex court said it did not want to interfere in the High Court’s order. After the SC earlier dismissed the state government’s leave petition, it filed the same application with Letter Patents Appeal (LPA).
Supreme Court Justice DY Chandrachud questioned why the LPA was filed even after the leave petition was rejected. After hearing all the questions and answers in the leave petition, the apex court said that the order of the High Court should be upheld. Therefore, there was no need to listen to the LPA. The apex court on 13 December had upheld the judgment on the basis of a leave petition filed in the state.
The Supreme Court has made it clear that the case was directed on 13 December. On 8 September, a single bench of the High Court granted protection to Adhikari.
A case was filed against the Nandigram MLA in different police stations of the state on the basis of multiple allegations. A case was also filed against Adhikari for the untimely death of his bodyguard. In those cases, the single bench of the Calcutta High Court had directed that he could not be arrested or any action could not be taken against him now.
The state went to the division bench of the High Court challenging the verdict. It was also mentioned that the verdict of the single bench will remain in force. Then the state government approached the Supreme Court. The judges in the apex court also said that they would not interfere in the verdict of the High Court.
Last September, a single bench of High Court Justice Rajasekhar Mantha adjourned three cases, including the case of Adhikari’s former bodyguard. The state went to the division bench challenging that directive. The order of the single bench was upheld there as well.
It may be mentioned that Subhabrata Chakraborty, the bodyguard of Adhikari, was shot dead in 2016. Nearly three years after the case, his wife Suparna Kanjilal Chakraborty filed an FIR in July seeking an inquiry. She questioned how he died even before being taken to Kolkata. She suspected that the ambulance intentionally arrived late that day.
