News Analysis India

Tag: Calcutta High Court

  • Narada case: Arrested Trinamool leaders to stay in jail; Governor raps Mamata government over protests in front of Raj Bhavan

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court adjourned till Thursday the hearing in the Narada sting tape case, in which two West Bengal ministers, an MLA and a former mayor of Kolkata were arrested by the CBI.

    In view of the adjournment on Wednesday, ministers Subrata Mukherjee and Firhad Hakim, Trinamool Congress MLA Madan Mitra and former city mayor Sovan Chatterjee will continue to remain in judicial custody.

    The petition of the CBI seeking transfer of trial in the case and the recalling application filed by the four leaders on the high court’s stay order on the bail granted by a CBI court on Monday will be further heard by the division bench comprising acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Arijit Banerjee on Thursday.

    The high court on Monday night stayed the lower court’s decision to grant bail to the four leaders, arrested and charge-sheeted by the CBI in the Narada sting case.

    The division bench had said that it deemed it appropriate to stay the special court’s order and direct that the “accused person shall be treated to be in judicial custody till further orders”.

    The four leaders were arrested on Monday morning from their residences in the city in connection with the Narada sting case that is being investigated by the CBI on an order by the high court.

    The CBI prayed before the high court that it transfers all proceedings in the Narada sting tape case to itself.

    It also prayed that the division bench declares that the proceedings before the special CBI court post production of the arrested accused virtually on May 17 are a nullity in the eyes of law and to conduct the proceedings afresh.

    The CBI further prayed that pending the final hearing and disposal of its petition before it, the high court direct continuance of its order staying the bail granted to the accused by the lower court.

    Seeking transfer of the case from the special court, the CBI claimed that all the four persons arrested are very influential persons and it apprehends that they will influence and threaten the witnesses and the system.

    Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CBI, submitted during the hearing through the virtual mode that the incidents following the arrests were unprecedented.

    “Their influence could be ascertained by the conduct of the Honble Chief Minister, Honble Law Minister, other Hon’ble Ministers and other eminent elected representatives, and the conduct of the mob at CBI Office and court premises on 17.05.2021,” the CBI said in its petition.

    It claimed that while the matter was being heard by the special CBI court, the CBI office was held under gherao by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, MPs Kalyan Banerjee and Santanu Sen, and TMC MLA Humayun Kabir, while an unruly crowd indulged in stone pelting at the CBI office premises.

    The CBI said that the chief minister entered the CBI office premises at 10.50 am on Monday.

    The investigating agency claimed that while entering the CBI Office, she started shouting “You also arrest me” and sat on a dharna for six hours.

    It further said that state “Law Minister Malay Ghatak, MP Kalyan Banerjee and other important functionaries of the ruling party with a very large threatening mob of persons remained in the court premises till the arguments were completed.”

    The CBI has made the chief minister, the law minister and Kalyan Banerjee party in its petition seeking transfer of the case.

    The agency claimed in its transfer petition before the high court that due to the gherao and violence resorted to by the mob, it was not possible for the CBI officers to move out of their office to enable them to physically produce the accused in the court and to produce the case diary before it as required by Constitution and the law.

    It claimed that under the said circumstances, the CBI court passed the order granting bail to the four, “under the cloud of mobocracy, pressure, threat and violence and is a nullity in the eyes of law”.

    Appearing for the arrested leaders, senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi claimed that there were democratic protests and that these did not affect the process of law and hearing before the special CBI court.

    He submitted that the chief minister and other ministers did not in any way instigate the protesters and had instead urged them to maintain peace.

    Singhvi further submitted that there is no relation between the protests and the special CBI court’s order granting bail.

    He questioned why were the two ministers – Mukherjee and Hakim, and the other two former ministers – Mitra and Chatterjee, arrested even though they cooperated with the investigation all along.

    It was further stated that there was no reason for their being in custody since a charge sheet against them was submitted by the investigating agency before the CBI court on Monday.

    Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar had on May 7 sanctioned the prosecution of Hakim, Mukherjee, Mitra and Chatterjee on a request by the CBI on the ground that all of them were holding positions of ministers in the state at the time of the alleged commission of the crime.

    The Narada sting tapes, which were made public before the 2016 assembly elections in West Bengal, were claimed to have been shot in 2014, wherein people resembling TMC ministers, MPs and MLAs were allegedly seen receiving money from representatives of a fictitious company in lieu of promised favours.

    The sting was conducted by Mathew Samuel of Narada News portal.

    The Calcutta High Court had ordered a CBI probe into the Narada sting operation in March 2017.

    The CBI had registered cases against 12 TMC leaders, many of whom are now in the BJP, and an IPS officer.

    Meanwhile, Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Wednesday took “serious note” of the demonstrations in front of the Raj Bhavan on consecutive days, despite prohibitory orders in force in the area, and sought a report from the city police.

    The governor took to Twitter and shared video clips of both the events tagging the official handle of Kolkata Police, and asked them to send comprehensive reports regarding the incidents and the actions taken by 5 pm on Wednesday.

    The governor’s ire followed the agitation near the four gates of Raj Bhavan by Trinamool Congress activists on Monday after the CBI arrested three heavyweight TMC leaders, two of them state ministers, in connection with Narada case, and a demonstration by a social organisation in which a person was seen with a posse of half a dozen sheep near the North Gate the day after.

    Dhankhar, who has been flagging the “worsening law and order issue” repeatedly in recent times, accused the demonstrators of showing threatening posture amounting to utter disregard for law and accused the police of not taking note of that.

    Tagging the Twitter handle of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Kolkata Police, Dhankhar tweeted on Wednesday, “State of law and order ?@MamataOfficial? even at the main entry gate of Raj Bhawan worrisome with stance police ? @KolkataPolice? leaving all to be desired.

    “And all this when the area is subject to 144 CrPC prohibitory orders. Constrained to seek an update on it.”

    In another tweet, he shared a video of a man posing outside Raj Bhavan with a flock of sheep on Tuesday.

    Dhankhar tweeted “and on this stance @KolkataPolice (laughable one) is that the man was keen to have photo with Raj Bhawan background. No action whatsoever taken.”

    Suman Mitra, a spokesman of the organisation which carried out this unusual protest, had said the demonstration was organised to protest “lack of concern by the governor for the people who are facing the brunt due to worsening COVID-19 situation in the state, scarcity in supply of oxygen, rise in deaths. Instead, he is only preoccupied with other issues which can be dealt with later on.”

    “Our protest is against the dirty politics at the time of pandemic when people of Bengal are suffering,” Mitra said.

    Turning to the agitation by Trinamool Congress activists before all the gates of Raj Bhavan in protest against the arrests by CBI on Monday, Dhankhar tweeted “And such threatening posture at main gate of Raj Bhawan! Police @KolkataPolice virtually takes no note of it.

    “Look at the content of the threat! With no fear of law- understandably given inaction of police. Can all this @MamataOfficial be countenanced or overlooked!”

  • CM Mamata, law minister Ghatak made parties in CBI petition before HC to transfer Narada case 

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Law Minister Moloy Ghatak have been made parties in a petition by the CBI before the Calcutta High Court seeking transfer of the Narada sting tape case from the state.

    A division bench presided by Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal fixed the matter for hearing at 2 pm on Wednesday.

    The bench will also hear petitions by ministers Subrata Mukherjee and Firhad Hakim, TMC MLA Madan Mitra and former Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee for recall of its order staying the bail granted by a CBI court in connection with their arrest in the case, on Monday.

    Besides Banerjee and Ghatak, the probe agency has also made Trinamool Congress MP and lawyer Kalyan Banerjee a party in its petition before the high court.

    Representing the CBI, Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta had on Monday evening told the division bench of Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Arijit Banerjee that an extraordinary situation had evolved, with the chief minister of the state sitting on a dharna outside the office of the investigating agency here.

    The CBI also claimed that the law minister of West Bengal was present in court, where the accused were to be presented, along with a mob.

    The probe agency said that a number of followers of the arrested political leaders gheraoed the CBI office in Nizam Palace area, and did not allow its officers to move out to enable them to produce the accused in court.

    They were produced before the special CBI court through the virtual mode on Monday.

  • Post poll violence: HC asks Mamata government to file affidavit on law and order situation

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: A five-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court, taking cognizance of a PIL that claimed life and liberty of people in Bengal are in danger owing to post-poll violence, asked the state government on Friday to file an affidavit in three days, apprising it of the present law and order situation.

    The bench directed advocate general for the state, Kishore Dutta, to specify in the affidavit the names of areas where violence broke out, and the steps taken to prevent or control the same.

    The PIL would be heard again on May 10.

    It was initially taken up by a division bench — comprising Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Arijit Banerjee — which then referred it to a larger bench for hearing after lunch recess.

    “Considering the importance (of the PIL) where life and liberty of the people in the state of West Bengal is at stake”, a larger bench comprising five judges was constituted to hear the plea.

    Petitioner Anindya Sundar Das, also a lawyer, has claimed in his plea that lives of people were in danger owing to alleged inaction of the state police force.

    A four-member team of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), tasked with looking into reasons for the post-poll violence in West Bengal, on Thursday held a meeting with top state government officials and visited families affected by the skirmishes, sources said.

    Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that 16 people have lost their lives in post-poll violence in various parts of the state.

    The BJP has alleged that TMC-backed goons have killed a number of its workers, attacked women members, vandalised houses and looted shops.

    Rejecting the charges, Banerjee said that violence and clashes were taking place in those areas where saffron party candidates emerged victorious in the assembly polls.

    Led by an additional secretary of the MHA, the team visited the state secretariat and held over an hour-long meeting with the chief secretary, home secretary and the director general of police, officials said.

    To assess the ground situation, the central team also visited places in South 24 Parganas district’s Sonarpur and Bhatpara in North 24 Parganas district, which witnessed post- poll violence.

    In Sonarpur, the team members spoke to family members of Haran Adhikari, who was killed in the violence, and local people, sources in the state police said.

    Afterwards, the team went to Bhatpara and took stock of the situation following the incidents of violence, they added.

    On Friday, the team would call on Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and seek a report on the post-poll violence, officials said.

    The MHA has asked Dhankar to give a report on the law and order situation in the state, particularly the violence that took place following the election results on May 2.

    The ministry had earlier asked the state government to submit a detailed report on the violence, but is yet to receive it, officials said.

    The ministry had on Wednesday sent a terse reminder to the West Bengal government to submit the report.

    Senior Trinamool Congress leader Firhad Hakim hit out at the Centre for sending teams instead of COVID-19 vaccines.

    “They should send vaccines first, that’s the responsibility of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We are grieved that some people have died, and action will be taken against the culprits.”

    “But, what will happen to the inoculation process which is stalled because of the vaccine crisis?” Hakim said.

    Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan’s car was attacked at Panchkuri village in Paschim Medinipur district on Thursday while he was visiting the area in connection with alleged assault on saffron party workers after the election.

    Muraleedharan claimed in a tweet that the “TMC goons” were behind the attack on his convoy.

    The chief minister, without naming anyone, said that some central ministers are going to villages after the elections are over and accused them of instigating violence.

    Meanwhile, senior TMC leader Udayan Guha was injured in an attack allegedly by BJP activists at Dinhata in Cooch Behar district on Thursday.

    A 22-year-old man died on Wednesday night after alleged TMC workers assaulted him in Purba Bardhaman district when he tried to save his father from their attack on the night of May 4, police said on Thursday.

  • HC says it expects parties will adhere to COVID protocols on counting day in Bengal

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Friday said that it expects political parties, their candidates and supporters will adhere to the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs on Covid-19 protocol on May 2, the day of counting of votes, keeping in view the Covid-19 pandemic situation.

    A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Arijit Banerjee also said that it expects the guidelines are enforced by the state agencies and the Election Commission of India in West Bengal including in and around the offices of political parties.

    A PIL before the court raised concerns over adherence to the COVID-19 protocols at the time of counting of votes and declaration of the results of the West Bengal assembly elections on May 2.

    The counsel for the petitioner submitted that to celebrate victory of a candidate of a party in an area, supporters may assemble in and around the party office and that there are chances of violation of the Covid-19 protocols.

    State Advocate General Kishore Dutta submitted that the Ministry of Home Affairs has issued an order on April 29, specifying the directions to be followed for Covid-19 management, which are applicable throughout the country irrespective of any election or not.

    The guidelines prohibit political, social, religious or any other kind of gathering, he submitted before the court.

    The high court on April 22 expressed dissatisfaction with the Election Commission of India over enforcement of Covid-19 health safety norms during the West Bengal assembly election process, including campaigning.

  • SC stays HC order reviving criminal cases against Mamata’s election agent

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Friday stayed the operation of a Calcutta High Court order which resulted in the reinstitution of several criminal cases against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s election agent in connection with the Nandigram protests against land acquisition by the state government from 2007-09.

    A bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and Krishna Murari said, “Since the order which affects the petitioner (election agent) herein was passed without hearing him, we deem it appropriate to pass an interim order staying the operation of the order dated March 5, 2021”.

    The petitioner, S K Supian, has challenged the order passed by the Calcutta High Court on two PILs against the withdrawal of prosecution in various criminal cases connected with the protests over the alleged improper acquisition of land by the state to create a special economic zone (SEZ) in Nandigram.

    Supian, represented by senior advocate Vikas Singh, has contended he was not made a party in the PILs and the reinstitution of the criminal cases has impaired his ability to discharge his functions as an election agent under the Representation of People Act 1951.

    Singh alleged that a PIL was “filed by a BJP person” in the high court which passed the interim order.

    “By an interim order, the case was revived,” he said, adding, “I (petitioner) am the election agent of the Chief Minister and because of this order, I am virtually disabled”.

    “It is unheard of. There is no question of revival of case,” Singh said, adding that his client was impleaded as a party in the matter before the high court, but after passing an interim order without hearing him.

    He said the cases relate to protests at Nandigram and later, the state government decided to withdraw these matters.

    “This high court order has to be stayed. Now, I (petitioner) have been impleaded as a party in the high court, I will go there and argue my case,” Singh said, adding the plea filed in the high court is “politically motivated”.

    Senior advocates A M Singhvi and Siddharth Luthra, appearing for the state, also opposed the high court’s interim order.

    Singhvi sought stay of the high court interim order and said it was passed on a PIL and that too, without hearing the person.

    “You must stay the order (of high court) completely,” Singhvi said.

    Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for a caveator, said both the petitions — one filed by the state and the other by Supian — should be dismissed with exemplary cost as they have “lied to this court”.

    The caveator before the apex court is one of the persons who filed the PIL in the high court.

    Rohatgi, during the hearing, claimed that both the state and Supian have argued that only agitation cases were withdrawn but there were some cases, including those under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code also.

    However, the bench said that the plea filed by the state is not before it.

    Singh said in Nandigram protest, there were allegations that some people had died in police firing and in some cases, allegation of murder was there.

    Rohatgi alleged that there are six cases against Supian and he was absconding for 13 years.

    “This is a shocking case where cases are withdrawn in stereotype fashion,” Rohatgi said, adding the petitioners before the high court are practicing lawyers.

    Rohatgi said the apex court can ask the division bench of the high court to hear the matter on Tuesday.

    Supian, in his plea, has claimed that he was discharged or acquitted in various cases, in relation to the protests against the land acquisition, in February and June last year.

    The criminal cases had alleged that he had engaged in unlawful assembly and had participated in the violence in connection with the protests, his petition has said.

    He has claimed that he came to know the cases were reinstituted when the process to issue arrest warrants was initiated by the magisterial court on March 15.

    The magisterial court by its order of March 15 had also stayed its order of last year permitting withdrawal of the prosecution and reinstated the criminal cases.

    The matter was mentioned in the first half of the day before a bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde by senior advocate Vikas Singh.

    The apex court, during the mentioning, said that “anything can happen in a political rivalry” and that it will see whether a special bench can be constituted depending on availability.

    Later, the matter was listed for hearing in the post-lunch session.

  • HC asks Bengal SIT to file report on probe into death of DYFI worker

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed by the West Bengal government to investigate the death of a DYFI activist who had participated in a protest march by the organisation, to file a comprehensive report on the probe into it by March 12.

    The Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the youth wing of the CPI(M), filed a PIL in the high court seeking an independent inquiry into the alleged incident.

    The Left organization claimed before a division bench comprising Chief Justice T B N Radhakrishnan and Justice Arijit Banerjee that the police used excess and unprovoked force on a peaceful demonstration organised by it on February 11 in violation of human rights.

    It alleged that as a result of the police action, hundreds of protesters suffered serious injuries in vital parts of their body and one of them, DYFI member Maidul Islam Midya, died on February 15.

    Representing the state, Advocate General Kishore Datta informed the court that the West Bengal government has already constituted an SIT headed by a very senior IPS officer, Damayanti Sen, and the team is probing the matter.

    Datta also submitted that the victims family has lodged a criminal case, wherein they have sought to make certain named persons liable for the death of the victim.

    Hearing both the parties, the division bench directed the SIT to file a comprehensive report on or before the next date of hearing, touching all aspects of the matter, including that of filing of a criminal case by the victim’s family.

    The bench directed that the matter would be taken up for hearing again on March 12.

    The youth and students’ wings of Left parties had on February 11 organised a march to Nabanna, the state secretariat, demanding jobs.

    The agitators and the police clashed near Esplanade at the heart of the city after the barricades put up to prevent the protestors from moving ahead were allegedly broken.

  • Calcutta High Court dismisses BJP leader Rakesh Singh’s plea to quash police notice

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition by the BJP leader Rakesh Singh praying for quashing of a notice by the police to appear before it in connection with a drugs case.

    The arrested BJP’s youth-wing activist Pamela Goswami has named Singh in the case.

    Following the court’s order, the personnel of the Kolkata police who were stopped by Singh’s family members from entering their residence went inside the house.

    Singh had moved the High Court through his lawyers seeking a stay on and quashing of the notice by the police to appear before it on Tuesday as a witness in the case.

    Singh’s lawyers submitted that at least 26 cases have been lodged against him after he joined the BJP and claimed that he was being hounded because of his political affiliation.

    Appearing for the state of West Bengal, Advocate General Kishore Datta submitted that 56 cases were pending against Singh before he joined the said political party and that there was no political connection in the matter.

    Hearing both the parties, Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya dismissed Singh’s petition.

    Singh has told police that he was travelling to Delhi for some work and would appear before them on February 26 after his return to the city.

    Goswami, the state secretary of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), and her friend Prabeer Kumar Dey were arrested on Friday along with her security guard after 90 gm of cocaine was allegedly found in her handbag and concealed in the car she was travelling.

    Goswami has named Singh in the drugs case, alleging that he conspired against her.

    Singh has denied the allegations.

  • HC refuses to pass interim order to stop BJP’s Parivartan Yatra rallies in Bengal

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday refused to pass any interim order on a public interest litigation (PIL) praying for its intervention to stop the BJP’s ongoing ‘Parivartan Yatra’ rallies across West Bengal and directed that it will hear the matter on February 11.

    Claiming that the yatra would affect the Covid-19 situation and law and order in the state, the petitioner prayed for an order that the rallies be stopped.

    A division bench comprising justices Rajesh Bindal and Aniruddha Roy directed that it will hear the matter on Thursday.

    The petitioner’s lawyer prayed for an interim order to stop the yatra till February 11, which was refused by the court.

    The BJP has started a month-long Parivartan Yatra from February 6, as part of which it intends to take out five rallies criss-crossing the state ahead of the assembly elections in West Bengal due in April-May.

    BJP national president JP Nadda flagged off the second phase of the yatra on Tuesday at Tarapith in Birbhum district.

    The first phase was launched on Saturday at Nabadwip in Nadia district.

  • Wife, not father, has right over deceased man’s sperm: Calcutta High Court

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court has refused to entertain the plea of a man seeking the right to collect his dead son’s frozen sperm, maintaining that the only other person, apart from the deceased, having any right to it is his wife.

    Dismissing the plea on January 19, Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya said that the petitioner does not have any “fundamental right” to permission for collecting the preserved sperm of his son merely by dint of his father-son relationship with the deceased.

    The petitioner’s counsel submitted that the widow of his son, in that case, ought to be directed to give her ‘no- objection’ or, at least, respond to his request.

    The court, however, rejected the prayer.

    The sperm preserved at a hospital in Delhi belonged to the deceased and, since he was in a matrimonial relationship till death, the only other person, apart from the deceased, having any right to it is his wife, the court said.

    “The father-son relationship of the petitioner and the deceased does not entail any such right of the petitioner to the progeny of his son,” Justice Bhattacharyya observed.

    The court further said that as far as the prayer for a direction upon the wife to respond to the petitioner’s communication is concerned, the matter is beyond the scope of the writ court, as it does not involve any violation of fundamental or statutory right.

    The petitioner contended that his son was a patient of thalassaemia, and had preserved his sperm at the Delhi hospital for use in the future.

    According to the counsel, the petitioner, following the demise of his son, approached the hospital seeking access to the frozen sperm on the ground that he is the father of the deceased donor.

    The hospital, on its part, informed him that he would need permission from the man’s wife, and proof of marriage has to be provided.

    Following such intimation by the hospital, the petitioner urged the widow of his deceased son to issue a ‘no-objection’ to him for collecting the sperm, the petitioner’s lawyer stated, adding that she refused to acknowledge the receipt of the communication.

  • Calcutta HC junks Mamata government plea over Amphan relief audit

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday rejected a plea filed by the Bengal government that sought a retraction of its judgment directing the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to audit cyclone Amphan-related relief distribution amid allegations of irregularities.

    Refusing to entertain the state government’s prayer, the division bench comprising Chief Justice TBN Radhakrishnan and Justice Arijit Banerjee directed the CAG to complete the process as early as possible.

    Claiming that absolute transparency was maintained during the disbursement of funds to victims in 16 districts of the state, the application stated that the assistance was directly transferred to beneficiaries’ bank accounts to curb chances of any foul play.

    In its judgement on December 1, 2020, the division bench had urged the CAG to conclude financial audits within three months from receiving a copy of the order.

    The petitioners, in a set of PILs which were heard together, complained that the West Bengal government, through its officers, had, in an unauthorised manner, picked and chose persons for doling out the benefits.

    The petitioners also alleged that a large number of people, who were actually affected by the devastating supercyclone, were left empty-handed.