High Court grants bail to Manik Bhattacharya

Kolkata: Subject to certain conditions, the Calcutta High Court on Thursday granted bail to Trinamool Congress MLA Manik Bhattacharya who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the multi-crore teacher recruitment scam

in West Bengal.

The Bench of Justice Suvra Ghosh relied on a Supreme Court judgement with regard to the right to speedy trial under Article 21 of the Constitution as well as

prolonged incarceration.

The court directed that Bhattacharya be released on bail upon furnishing a bond of Rs 10,00,000 while also setting several conditions. The court set six conditions for the bail. Firstly, the petitioner shall surrender his passport with the trial court at once. He shall not leave the territorial jurisdiction of the trial court without leave of the trial court. Bhattacharya shall appear before the trial court on every date of hearing and shall not tamper with evidence or intimidate witnesses in any manner whatsoever.

Further, he shall not indulge in any criminal activity and shall not communicate with or come in contact with the witnesses. Bhattacharya is also required to provide his mobile number before the trial court and shall not change the said number without prior intimation to the court.

The portion of the Apex Court judgement relied upon emphasised that the right to life and personal liberty enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution of India is overarching and sacrosanct. A constitutional court cannot be restrained from granting bail to an accused on account of restrictive statutory provisions in a penal statute if it finds that the right of the accused-undertrial under Article 21 of the Constitution has

been infringed.

HC observed that the petitioner is in custody for little less than two years. “Charge is yet to be framed. Delay in trial cannot be wholly attributable to the petitioner. The case involves several thousands of pages of documents and a good number of witnesses to be examined. Chance of a trial being concluded in the near future is bleak…”