The high drama continued today in the Calcutta High Court on the arrest of two ministers of Mamata Banerjee’s government. Just after the hearing began sometime after 11 AM, it became apparent that the two-judge division bench hearing the bail petition were not unanimous about granting the plea.
Finally, the bench gave an order for putting the ministers Subrata Mukherjee and Firhad Hakim, along with two other accused of Narada case Madan Mitra and Shovan Chatterjee, under house arrest. Alongside, for further hearing, the case will go for a larger bench.
While Rajesh Bindal, the acting chief justice, opined against granting of bail, Arijit Banerjee, the other judge of the bench was for granting interim bail to the accused. Under the circumstances, the bench gave an interim order for home internment of the four. It said the decision was taken keeping in mind the health condition of all the accused.
But just after the interim order was given, the two contesting legal luminaries, Tushar Mehta and Abhishek Manu Singhvi were unanimous that it was not acceptable. Singhvi, the lawyer for the accused, commented that house arrest and judicial custody hardly had any difference. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta opposed it on the ground that these influential people should be kept in jail.
When the court reassembled after a gap of ten minutes, the solicitor general sought a stay on this interim order. But, the court decided to stick to its earlier position. Meanwhile, as the lawyers sought some relief for Firhad Hakim, the Urban Development minister who was spearheading a task force formed to fight covid-19, the division bench has allowed both the ministers to attend meetings through video conferences from their respective homes.
Raising the topic of Firhad Hakim’s arrest, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee yesterday had said, “I’ll not comment as the case is sub-judice. But he is one who works day and night. He was working for containing coronavirus. But because of vendetta politics, he is in jail now.” Meanwhile, state government has appointed the chief secretary as the head of the task force in place of Firhad.
Now a new bench consisting of at least three judges is to be constituted by the Chief Justice to hear the bail petition. It will also hear the other plea on the transfer of the case out of Bengal. Some experts however feel if CBI is serious about the transfer, it should move the Supreme Court.
(The author Diptendra Raychaudhuri is a senior journalist based in Kolkata. He has a wide range of experience in covering West Bengal politics and has authored).