HC withdraws Suvendu Adhikari’s FIR immunity

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Friday withdrew the protection that barred the police from lodging fresh FIRs against Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, without prior permission of the court.

The order was passed by Justice Jay Sengupta, who observed that the protection earlier granted to Adhikari was an interim measure and could not continue indefinitely. The bench was hearing a petition challenging a December 2022 order by Justice Rajasekhar Mantha, which had granted the BJP leader blanket protection from future police cases without the court’s approval.

Justice Mantha’s order in 2022 had also stayed 26 FIRs that had already been filed against Adhikari by the state police. On Friday, Justice Sengupta’s bench dismissed 15 of those FIRs, while directing that the remaining ones be investigated by a joint special investigation team (SIT) comprising officers from both the West Bengal Police and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Justice Sengupta noted that interim judicial protections are not meant to be permanent and must eventually be reviewed or vacated. The bench, however, allowed Adhikari’s counsels to make further submissions on the withdrawal of protection by October 27.

The latest order effectively removes the legal shield that had prevented police from filing fresh complaints against the opposition leader without court consent.

Legal observers said the development is significant, though Adhikari retains the option of challenging the ruling before a higher bench or in the Supreme Court. The matter is likely to see further proceedings next week once Adhikari’s legal team places its submissions before Justice Sengupta’s bench.