Calcutta High Court dismisses contempt plea by BJP's Suvendu Adhikari against West Bengal DGP for denying entry in village

A contempt of court petition filed by BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari against the State's Director General of Police (DGP) Manoj Malviya, for not allowing Adhikari to visit a village in January this year, was dismissed by the Calcutta High Court earlier this week [Suvendu Adhikari vs Manoj Malviya IPS]..Single-judge Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya noted that an earlier writ petition filed by Adhikari to visit the Netai village in Paschim Medinipur had been disposed of by the Court on a submission by the State's Advocate General that Adhikari could visit any place in India, including the Netai village subject to legal restrictions."The submission of the AG to the effect that the petitioner was free to go anywhere was qualified by the rider that such act of the petitioner ought not to violate any law. Although, ipso facto, the petitioner’s travel to the Netai village was not a violation of law, the direct apprehension of a law and order predicament would sufficiently entitle the law enforcement authorities to prevent such act on the spot," the judge said in order passed on Monday.With regard to the DGP, the Court said that he cannot be automatically held guilty of wilful disobedience of court orders, especially when he was not present at the spot where Adhikari was prevented from entering the village..Adhikari, the leader of opposition in West Bengal, wanted to visit the village to pay homage to the nine persons, who were sympathisers of non-left parties and were shot dead in January 2011. He had first petitioned the High Court in January this year for visiting the village claiming that he was disallowed to enter the said village. However, the High Court had disposed of his petition on the submissions of the AG that Adhikari was free to visit any place in India including Netai village but subject to legal restrictions.On the relevant day, the police force deployed at the spot refused to allow Adhikari to enter the village as supporters both of BJP and the ruling All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) had reached the site creating a tense situation..Taking note of the same, Justice Bhattacharyya in his order said, "...there is sufficient material to justify the claim of the alleged contemnors that there would be a flagrant violation of the law and order situation in the event the petitioner was allowed to go through, which might have prompted the respondents to prevent him from doing so, as it would create a risk of inciting the highly volatile situation in Netai village."The judge noted the developments at the ground level and said the same the resistance by the alleged contemnors to the petitioner going over to Netai was not entirely unjustified."The several reports and documents produced by the alleged contemnors reveal that there is sufficient material on record to corroborate the legitimate apprehension of a clash between the warring political parties and consequently breach of peace in the event the petitioner was let in," the judge noted..He further said that the alleged contemnors, i.e. DGP and other police officers had produced sufficient material to justify their acts and the acts could not said to be deliberate."...it would not be in consonance with the principles laid down in the several judgments...Since sufficient explanation has been furnished by the alleged contemnors to create a doubt in the mind of court as records the wilful violation of the order of court, the Rule cannot succeed," the bench concluded..Advocates Rajdeep Majumder, Moyukh Mukherjee and Aishwarya Bajaj appeared for Suvendu Adhikari.Advocate General SN Mookherjee along with advocates Anirban Ray, Sanjay Basu, Debasish Ghosh, Piyush Agarwal and Utsha Dasgupta represented the State..[Read Order]