Calcutta High Court allows Suvendu Adhikari to visit Sandeshkhali but without supporters

The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday allowed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and West Bengal Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari to visit Sandeshkhali where women have been agitating over alleged atrocities committed against them by Trinamool Congress leader Shahjahan Sheikh and his aides..A Division Bench of Chief Justice T Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya however cautioned against law and order problems arising and directed that no supporters will accompany Adhikari..Single-judge Justice Kausik Chanda had yesterday allowed the BJP leader to visit the area. The State then challenged the order before the Division Bench. Adhikari was reportedly stopped by the police from visiting the area today. The Court was told he and another leader - who was also permitted by the Single Bench, have been stopped on the ground that State was filing an appeal against Justice Chanda's order.The appeal was mentioned before the division bench by West Bengal Advocate General Kishore Datta. Hearing the matter, the Division Bench agreed with reasons given by single-judge for granting permission and refused to intervene. "Unless this order [of Single Judge] is stayed, he cannot be stopped. Don't precipitate the problem ... if you start resisting it, then local people may gather and that may result in further law and order problem," Justice Sivagnanam told the State..Justice Chanda had stayed an order under section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) issued by the Sub-Divisional Officer, Basirhat, North 24-Paraganas on February 18. The single judge had observed that despite a similar order being set aside by a Division Bench on February 13, the second one was issued on almost similar grounds. "Order dated February 18, 2024, is, in fact, a verbatim reproduction of the order dated February 13, 2024. This time, however, the order was restricted to fifteen places only. It clearly appears that order dated February 18, 2024, is a result of non application of mind of the Sub-Divisional Officer, Basirhat. He acted mechanically in issuing the said order dated February 18, 2024," the Court had further observed.Accordingly, the single-judge stayed the order and allowed Adhikari and another BJP leader to visit Sandeshkhali Gram Panchayat under Sandeshkhali Block –II today.