The Supreme Court, on Thursday, asked the West Bengal government to approach the Chief Justice of State High Court seeking modification of its order prohibiting registration of any FIR against State BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari without its nod, as the apex court declined to entertain a plea by the state police for the registration of an FIR against Adhakiri for the death of three people during a stampede at a blanket distribution event organised by him at Asansol on December 14, 2022.
A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha permitted the West Bengal government to approach the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court for the modification of its December 8 order, interdicting the registration of any FIR against Adhikari without its prior permission.
The apex court asked the state government to approach the Chief Justice of the High Court, as senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi in a mentioning told the bench that the judge who had passed the order forbidding registration of any FIR against the BJP leader was away to Port Blair in connection with judicial work.
Having been permitted to approach the Chief Justice of the High Court, senior advocate Singhvi withdrew the plea by the West Bengal government.
The Calcutta High Court on December 8 had directed that West Bengal Police shall not register any more FIRs against Adhikari without its permission, observing that Adhikari is an elected representative of the people holding the post of Leader of the Opposition.
The High Court had stayed each and every one of the FIRs referred to by Adhikari in his petition.
The High Court by its December 8 order had said, “However, in the peculiar facts and circumstances of the instant case, the fact that the writ petitioner (Adhikari) is an elected representative of the people holding the post of Leader of the Opposition, the Court’s mind is not free from doubt that the State police machinery, either on its own or under the influence of persons in the ruling dispensation, is out to completely stall the public life and personal liberty of the writ petitioner. There appears to be a calculated design to deprive the liberty of the petitioner.”
Adhikari had told the High Court that 26 FIRs have been registered against him and there is an attempt to prevent him from performing any functions as a people’s representative and the FIRs registered against him are motivated at the instance of the ruling dispensation.