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A Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court, has upheld a prior single bench order and said that the state cannot take any punitive action against Suvendu Adhikari, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader in West Bengal.

In September this year, the single bench of Justice Rajsekhar Manthar had directed the police not to arrest him. The state is investigating two cases including the case regarding the death of his bodyguard and the allegation of taking money illegally in the name of getting a job in Maniktala police station.

Adhikari moved the court seeking protection from arrest in these cases.

Suvendu Adhikari has alleged “victimization and harassment by the State machinery” as a counterblast to the change in his political allegiance from Trinamool Congress (TMC) to BJP before the state election.

Adhikari has also sought for transfer of investigation in the cases to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) because he claims to have lost faith in the state system.

The Division Bench comprising Justice Subrata Talukdar and Justice Kesang Doma Bhutia was primarily tasked to decide the point of demurrer and hence the maintainability of the appeals itself.

The Court held that the reliefs granted by the Single Bench pertain to the exercise of criminal jurisdiction and that no intra-Court appeals lie in this respect.

The Bench further placed reliance on the Supreme Court judgment in Re: Ram Kishan Fauji v. State of Haryana and another wherein it was observed that, “It is no more res integra that the exercise of criminal jurisdiction can be subjected to an intra-Court appeal.”

Hence, the Division Bench held that the relief granted by the single bench pertains to criminal jurisdiction, therefore the intra court-appeal is not maintenable.

“This Court has considered the demurrer on the touchstone of the nature of the jurisdiction exercised by the Hon’ble Single Bench and, not on the composition of the Hon’ble Single Bench sitting in Article 226 jurisdiction, by following the law laid down In Re: Ram Kishan Fauji."

The Court further held that the alternate relief of transfer of investigation to the CBI has not been considered at this stage and that the parties are at liberty to apply before the appropriate forum.

Cause Title: State of West Bengal v. Suvendu Adhikari and Ors