The Supreme Court on Monday refused entertain the plea of West Bengal Government against the Calcutta High Court order which granted protection from arrest to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, Suvendu Adhikari, in the criminal cases filed against him by the state government after he switched to BJP from Trinamool Congress (TMC).

A tweet from the official handle of Bar and Bench.

The Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna refused to opine on the merits of the case.

The Supreme Court in its order mentioned – “The single judge [of Calcutta High Court] has permitted affidavits in opposition to be filed within four weeks and reply, if any, within two weeks thereafter. As of date, State of West Bengal or the Investigating Officer are yet to file reply. The observation of the High Court prima facie is in support of ad interim stay granted…we are not inclined to use our special powers under Article 136.”

The State of West Bengal was represented by Senior Advocate Kalyan Bandopadhyay while Senior Advocate Harish Salve appeared for Adhikari.

It must be noted that, in September 2021, the High Court had granted Suvendu Adhikari protection from arrest as it had observed that the West Bengal government was attempting to implicate and victimize BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari by filing criminal cases against him.

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