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Kolkata, Oct 24 (IANS) The Calcutta High Court on Friday withdrew the protection granted to Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari from any future FIR lodged by the police against him without prior permission of the court.
To recall, in December 2022, the then single-judge bench of Justice Rajashekhar Mantha of the Calcutta High Court had granted interim protection to the officer, stating that no FIR can be filed against him in future by the police without the prior permission of the court.
The protection against future FIRs without the court’s permission by Justice Mantha in 2022 was in addition to the interim stay on 26 FIRs already filed by the police against the officer.
The petition filed against the order of Justice Mantha’s bench was being heard by another single-judge bench of Justice Jai Sengupta of the Calcutta High Court.
On Friday, Justice Sengupta’s bench finally gave its verdict in this case and withdrew the protection which the opposition leader was getting till now against future FIRs without the permission of the court.
Justice Sengupta said the protection given to him earlier was an interim arrangement and, therefore, could not be continued indefinitely.
Also, Justice Sengupta also said that if the opposition leader’s lawyers have any comments on the direction to withdraw protection against future FIRs, they can submit it to his bench by October 27.
Justice Sengupta also quashed a total of 15 FIRs that had already been filed against the opposition leader without the court’s permission while providing protection against future FIRs.
In the remaining existing FIR cases, Justice Sengupta’s bench ordered that it be investigated by a joint special investigation team (SIT), with representation from both the West Bengal Police and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
However, legal experts believe that since the order to withdraw protection has been given by a single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court, the leader of the opposition has the provision to challenge that order in a higher bench or the High Court.
–IANS
source/svn