The Supreme Court of India has nullified an order from the Calcutta High Court which stated that the West Bengal Police could register an FIR against BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, if they found an offence had been committed. Adhikari was accused of promoting enmity between different groups.
The Supreme Court bench, led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, held that the Calcutta High Court should have allowed Adhikari to submit a counter affidavit before making the interim order in its July 20 decision.
The bench, including Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, requested the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court to rehear the case and declared that the July 20 order be set aside.
This Supreme Court verdict was in response to an appeal by Adhikari against the Calcutta High Court’s July 20 order.
Earlier, a single judge of the Calcutta High Court had ruled in September 2021 and December 2022 that no FIR should be registered and no coercive steps should be taken against Adhikari, who serves as the Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly.
On July 20, a division bench of the high court addressed a plea alleging that Adhikari had committed an offence under section 153-A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which pertains to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds such as religion, race, place of birth, residence, and language.
The division bench ordered the petition to be treated as a complaint to the police authority, and directed the state police to examine whether the acts described in it constitute an offence under section 153-A of the IPC. If they found it to be so, the high court said they should register a first information report under section 154 of the Criminal Procedure Code.