The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha could find themselves on a sticky wicket with the Calcutta High Court directing the city sessions court to frame charges against GJM president Bimal Gurung and 21 others in the Madan Tamang murder case by August 17.
With a specific date fixed by the division Bench to frame charges, it would definitely put the GJM in a tight spot at a time when they are spearheading an agitation in the Hills. The division Bench on Wednesday was hearing PILs against the indefinite bandh.
The next date of hearing of this case has been fixed on August 23 for the hearing on the PILs when the Bench would also take a decision on the petitioners' demands for initiating contempt proceedings against Gurung for flouting the court's orders on a ban on the bandh. The division Bench had earlier declared the ongoing indefinite bandh as illegal. "We will honour the orders of the court and act as per the court's directive. However, our legal counsel is also looking into the court's order and will direct us accordingly," added Binay Tamang.
The division Bench comprising acting Chief Justice Nishita Mhatre and Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty while hearing PILs on the ongoing indefinite bandh in the Hills had earlier added the CBI in the case. The division Bench had asked the investigation agency to file an affidavit as to why the CBI had failed to take steps to ensure that GJM president Bimal Gurung, his wife Asha Gurung and several others accused in the killing of All India Gorkha League leader Madan Tamang are not present in Kolkata as was directed by another division Bench of the High Court. Madan Tamang had been brutally assassinated on May 21, 2010 at the Upper Clubside, Darjeeling while overseeing preparations of a public meeting. The case was handed over to the CBI.
In May 2015, the CBI submitted a charge-sheet naming 54 persons including Bimal Gurung, Asha Gurung, Roshan Giri and BinayTamang. 22, including Gurung, Giri, Tamang had moved anticipatory bail pleas in the Calcutta high court. A division Bench headed by Justice Ashim Roy had in December 2016 granted the Morcha leaders anticipatory bails but had specified that the trial against the accused would be conducted by a special CBI court in Calcutta and they would have to stay in the city (within the jurisdiction of Kolkata metropolitan police) from the time of framing of the charges and till the completion of trial. On the 36th day of the indefinite bandh, the Panchayat office at Lamahatta was torched. Khukuri rallies were taken out by women supporters of the GJM. The youth wing of the GJM will be sitting on a fast unto death for Gorkhaland from Friday. Meanwhile, the DFO office in Kurseong was also torched.