Narada case: Judge questions Calcutta HC’s handling of interim bail grant

By Express News Service
NEW DELHI/KOLKATA : A sitting judge of Calcutta High Court wrote a letter to the all judges of court questioning the handling of the interim bail order of three Trinamool Congress MLAs and the CBI’s plea challenging the order. The letter comes days after the Supreme Court too had criticised the High Court over its handling of the case.

“Our conduct is unbecoming of the majesty the High Court commands. We have been reduced to a mockery. As such, I am requesting all of us to salvage the situation by taking such steps, including convening a Full Court, if necessary, for the purpose of re-affirming sanctity of our rules and our unwritten code of conduct,” the judge wrote in the letter.

Justice Sinha alleges that the CBI’s e-mail asking for the Narada case to be transferred out of Bengal was wrongly listed by the Calcutta High Court before a division bench comprising two judges instead of a single judge.  The letter dated May 24, mentioned a series of questions on the procedural gaps in admitting the CBI’s plea.

The judge also mentioned that the accused continued to be in custody though they had obtained bail from designated court. He also raised question on the procedure in assigning the CBI’s plea to a bench headed by the acting chief justice.

“Whether the high court exercising power in the matter of transfer of a criminal case, at that stage, on its own initiative, could have passed the order for stay, is the second question,” he wrote.

Justice Sinha wrote in his letter that the CBI’s transfer plea should have been heard by a single judge and should not have been treated as a writ petition as there was “no substantial question of law related to the constitution.”