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Kolkata, Oct 29 (IANS) A single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday granted interim protection from the police to Leader of the Opposition (LOP) in the West Bengal Assembly and senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari in two FIRs lodged against them in two police stations in the same case.
A single-judge bench of Justice Jai Sengupta had granted interim protection to the opposition leader till November 18.
Justice Sengupta also directed the police to submit the case diary related to the FIR in the court by the next date of hearing of the case, which is fixed for November 11.
Justice Sengupta also directed that notice be served to the complainants in both the cases, based on whose complaints the FIRs were registered.
Both the FIRs were in connection with some controversial comments allegedly made by the opposition leader about West Bengal Forest Department Minister Birbaha Hansda.
Last week, the same single-judge bench of Justice Sengupta had withdrawn the protection granted to the LOP officer from future FIRs against him by the police without prior permission of the court, which was granted by a single-judge bench of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha of the Calcutta High Court in December 2022.
Taking back that protection, Justice Sengupta said that the protection given to the LOP officer in 2022 was an interim arrangement and, therefore, could not be continued indefinitely.
However, on the same day, Justice Sengupta quashed a total of 15 FIRs that had already been filed against the LOP officer without the court’s permission, 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).
–IANS
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