The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday allowed West Bengal leader of opposition and BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari to visit Murshidabad, which has been affected violence over the Waqf (Amendment) Act..A Division Bench of Justices Soumen Sen and Raja Basu Chowdhury also allowed the local BJP MLA to visit the affected areas after informing the jurisdictional Superintendent of Police (SP). However, the Court cautioned them not to hold any processions, rallies or make any speech which may affect the peace in the area. “It is expected that jurisdictional SPs shall ensure that no breach of peace takes place during such visit and if required additional forces may be deployed to prevent any untoward incident. The petitioner nos.1, 2 and Subrata (Kanchan) Moitra may interact with the victims at the aforesaid three places, however, they shall not take out any procession or hold any rally or make any public speech that are likely to cause breach of peace during their interaction with the victims. This is necessary for the purpose of preservation of peace and tranquility,” the Court ordered. .The directions were passed on a plea filed by Adhikari seeking directions to allow him to visit the riot-affected area. He argued that several leaders from the ruling Trinamool Congress have been allowed to visit Murshidabad but his requests have remained unanswered. His lawyers told the Court that several emails were sent to the local SP to find out an appropriate time for the visit but they did not get any response. Meanwhile, the West Bengal government opposed the plea arguing that even if it is accepted that Adhikari is the leader of the opposition, he does not enjoy any immunity and does require the Court’s blessings for his visit. .After considering the arguments, the Court allowed Adhikari to visit the area and disposed of his plea. .Senior Advocate Billwadal Bhattacharyya along with advocates Moyukh Mukherjee, Anish Kumar Mukherjee, Pritam Roy, Sagnika Banerjee, Megha Datta and Tamoghna Pramanick appeared for Suvendu Adhikari. State of West Bengal was represented by Advocate General Kishore Datta as well as advocates Swapan Banerjee, Sumita Shaw and Soumen Chatterjee. .[Read Order]
