Kolkata: The Calcutta high court stayed a lower court’s decision to grant bail to two TMC ministers and an MLA, along with a former party leader. They were arrested and chargesheeted by the CBI in the Narada sting tape case.
The central agency moved a division bench of acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Arijit Banerjee soon after a special CBI court granted bail to the leaders. These included state ministers Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee, TMC MLA Madan Mitra, and former TMC leader and former mayor of Kolkata, Sovan Chatterjee.
The division bench deemed it appropriate to stay the special court’s order and directed that the “accused person shall be treated to be in judicial custody till further orders”. The court listed the matter for further hearing on May 19.
The authority in whose custody the ministers are kept shall ensure that they have all required medical facilities available and are treated in terms of the jail manual’s provisions, the court added.
The CBI was represented in the high court by solicitor general Tushar Mehta.
The CBI office at Nizam Palace in Kolkata became the latest political battleground in the state, as chief minister Mamata Banerjee arrived and demanded she also be arrested. Angry protestors disregarded the ongoing coronavirus lockdown by gathering on site and hurling stones and bricks at security personnel.
The bench noted that the CBI moved the high court “to deal with an extraordinary situation where chief minister of the state can sit on a dharna outside the office of the Central Bureau of Investigation along with her supporters.” They also claimed that the law minister of West Bengal was present in court where the accused were to be presented along with a “mob of 2,000 to 3,000 supporters”.
The CBI further claimed that the chief minister, law minister and other senior ministers of West Bengal, along with their supporters, were obstructing the CBI in discharging its official duties in thousands.
The investigating agency claimed that the arrested political leaders’ followers had surrounded the CBI office, and were stopping the officers from moving out to present the accused in court. The leaders were eventually produced before the special CBI court virtually and granted bail.
The agency also claimed before the high court that Mamata Banerjee arrived at on site at 10:50 am and sat on dharna along with the mob, demanding unconditional release of the arrested ministers.
The matter was mentioned before the high court in the afternoon, seeking directions for the state to allow the CBI to discharge its function.
Solicitor general Mehta submitted before the virtually held court, that the case was a total failure of rule of law.
Appearing for the state, advocate general Kishore Dutta submitted that CBI officers were provided full protection by the local police for discharging their duty. He further claimed that no official complaint, about any incident, had been filed by the CBI with the police.
Passing the order, the division bench observed that the people’s confidence in the justice system will be eroded. They added that such incidents are allowed to happen in matters where political leaders are arrested and to be produced in court.
The bench observed, “Public trust and confidence in the judicial system is more important, it being the last resort.”
(PTI)
Source: https://thewire.in/law/kolkata-hc-stays-bail-to-bengal-ministers-leaders-arrested-in-narada-sting-case
