Kolkata, Sep 24 (IANS) The Calcutta High Court on Thursday barred the West Bengal Police from booking or taking any further action in any new case against Congress’s Nandigram bypoll candidate Milan Pradhan.
Pradhan is in judicial custody now in two cases following orders of district courts in West Bengal. He was sent to judicial custody till October 3 in a murder case registered against him in 2007 during the anti-land acquisition movement at Nandigram during the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee-led Left Front regime. In another case, a court sent him to jail till October 5.
On Thursday, the single-judge bench of Justice Saugata Bhattacharya ruled that barring these two cases for which Pradhan is already in judicial custody, the state police would be barred from registering any new case against him or showing him as arrested in any new case.
This restriction on the state police will be in force till October 12.
The West Bengal government has challenged the decision.
Soon after Justice Bhattacharya issued the order, the state government approached the High Court.
A division bench of new Chief Justice Ravindra Vithalrao Ghuge is slated to hear the matter on Friday.
The bypolls for Nandigram and Rejinagar Assembly constituencies will be held on October 6, and the results will be declared on October 9.
Pradhan was arrested on September 18 evening, hours after former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced that the Trinamool Congress faction led by her would support the Congress candidate in Nandigram/
Banerjee’s announcement came shortly after her faction’s candidate, Sanchita Dey Pradhan, dramatically withdrew her nomination from Nandigram.
It was a fresh move towards Opposition unity in the state after her rout in the Assembly polls held in the state early this year.
The legal proceedings have unfolded against the backdrop of the upcoming bypolls, with the cases and Pradhan’s custody becoming a key issue in the contest in Nandigram now.
Meanwhile, Milan’s wife, Arpita Pradhan, posted an emotional video message on social media questioning the time of her husband’s arrest.
“My husband was arrested immediately after the Congress announced his name as the party candidate. He used to go to vote regularly and used to stay in the area during the festival times. He was not arrested for so long. Now, why was he arrested after the Congress named him as the bypoll candidate?” she asked.
The state government’s argument is that Pradhan was arrested following instructions to execute all long-standing non-bailable arrest warrants before the bypolls.
–IANS
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