In a setback for Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari ahead of the elections in the state, the Calcutta High Court on Friday withdrew the blanket protection that had prevented the police from taking coercive action against him without court permission.

The single judge bench of Justice Joy Sengupta observed Friday that such protection, granted earlier by the High Court as an interim order, cannot remain in force indefinitely and has to come to an end.

“An interim order can’t be continued for an indefinite period,” Justice Sengupta said, referring to Justice Rajasekhar Mantha’s three-year-old order.

In 2022, Adhikari had moved the High Court, seeking quashing of FIRs filed against him by West Bengal Police. Adhikari claimed that the cases were politically motivated and were filed after he quit the ruling TMC to join the Opposition BJP.
On December 8, 2022, the single judge bench of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha ordered blanket protection for Adhikari, ruling that no new FIRs could be filed against Adhikari without the court’s prior approval.

Justice Mantha had also stayed 26 FIRs already lodged against Adhikari.

On Friday, the Bench of Justice Sengupta dismissed 15 of the 19 cases filed against Adhikari, but also ordered the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the allegations in four other FIRs that the BJP leader had sought to be quashed.

Among the matters flagged by the High Court for further inquiry is a forgery case in which Adhikari has been accused of taking money in return of a job. There is also an FIR against him for assault on a TMC supporter during a BJP rally in Nandigram. The SIT will also probe allegations of threats to the Purba Medinipur superintendent of police at a rally in Tamluk.

The court’s order, once published, would clarify the full list of cases and the scope of the SIT’s mandate.

Reacting to the High Court’s decision, Adhikari told media persons in Howrah that he was “happy with the High Court’s verdict,” adding that the court had dismissed most of the cases lodged against him.

“The High Court has dismissed most of the cases that (Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee filed against me in the last five years through her police. The remaining cases have been taken over by the CBI. The High Court’s verdict has proven that the state police is Mamata’s plaything, a political tool,” he said.

A senior BJP leader told The Indian Express, “Just before the elections (scheduled for early next year), this verdict will create trouble for a leader like Suvendu Adhikari. We fear that during campaign programmes, he may be framed or even arrested to stop his campaign against the ruling Trinamool Congress.”

The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), on the other hand, said the High Court’s vindicated its stand. TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said, “It’s a big setback for Adhikari. We had repeatedly said that such blanket protection can’t continue for an indefinite period. The High Court has basically given a positive nod to our demand.”

Adhikari, once considered a close aide of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, had quit TMC ahead of 2021 Assembly polls in the state. He joined the BJP and defeated Mamata in his stronghold of Nandigram, registering the biggest upset of the 2021 Assembly polls.