Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal assembly Suvendu Adhikari suffered a setback as the Calcutta High Court removed the blanket protection from future FIRs against him by police without prior permission of the court.
Justice Jay Sengupta observed that such an order cannot remain in force indefinitely. However, the court also dismissed 15 cases filed against the BJP leader.
The court permitted the BJP leader to submit an appeal on Monday for any submission opposing the order.
In addition to this, the court directed the formation of a Special Investigation Team(SIT) to probe allegations into five other cases filed against him, even as Adhikari appealed for FIRs to be quashed.
The Calcutta High Court order on Friday is in reference to an earlier order in December 2022, where Justice Rajashekhar Mantha granted an interim protection to Adhikari from FIRs by the police in future without the permission of the court. This particular order was in addition to the interim stay on 26 FIRs which were filed against the BJP leader.
“This is a major setback for Adhikari, which we call ‘Jor ka Jhatka dheere se lage.’ He is misusing the blanket protection and using defamatory words, making provocative statements and actions," said TMC leader Kunal Ghosh, reacting to the court order.
Ghosh also questioned the earlier order of the Calcutta High Court. “One can get protection in one case, but Justice Mantha gave him protection in all cases, even in future cases.”
Justice Sengupta’s order comes months ahead of the 2026 West Bengal assembly elections.
