‘Reduced to a mockery’: Calcutta High Court judge writes to Acting Chief Justice over Narada case

The 2-judge bench of Appearing Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Arjit Banerjee ordered the home arrest of the 4 TMC leaders on Might 21.

A senior sitting choose of the Calcutta Excessive Courtroom has objected to the court docket’s dealing with of the Narada case in a letter to senior judges together with the Appearing Chief Justice. Justice Arindam Sinha raised questions over appearing Excessive Courtroom Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal’s intervention within the Narada case in transferring the case to the two-judge bench and staying the bail granted to 4 TMC leaders by a CBI court docket. He alleged that the court docket’s ‘conduct is unbecoming’ of the instructions. “The excessive court docket should get its act collectively. Our conduct is unbecoming of the majesty the Excessive Courtroom instructions. We now have been decreased to a mockery. As such, I’m requesting all of us to salvage the scenario by taking such steps, together with convening a full court docket, if vital, for the aim of re-affirming sanctity of our Guidelines and our unwritten code of conduct,” reported The Indian Categorical quoting the letter.

Justice Sinha alleged that the CBI’s plea searching for switch of the Narada case out of Bengal was wrongly listed earlier than a division bench of two as a substitute of a single choose by the Excessive Courtroom.

The choose wrote the letter on Might 24, a day after the CBI challenged the division bench’s order directing the home arrest of the TMC leaders within the Supreme Courtroom. The CBI’s transfer raised a collection of questions on the procedural gaps in admitting the CBI’s plea and assigning it to a bench headed by the appearing chief justice. “Whether or not the excessive court docket exercising energy within the matter of switch of a legal case, at that stage, by itself initiative, might have handed the order for keep, is the second query,” the letter questioned.

The 2-judge bench of Appearing Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Arjit Banerjee ordered the home arrest of the 4 TMC leaders on Might 21 regardless of distinction of their opinion and referred the matter to a bigger five-judge bench. Whereas Justice Banerjee was in favour of granting bail, appearing Chief Justice Bindal favoured home arrest.

Justice Sinha additionally questioned the switch of the matter to a five-judge bench when usually a 3rd choose is added in case of a cut up verdict in a division bench.

The CBI had arrested Subrata Mukherjee, Firhad Hakim, TMC MLA Madan Mitra, and former Kolkata Mayor Sovan Chatterjee on Might 17 however had been granted bail on the identical day by a CBI court docket. The CBI had then moved the Calcutta Excessive Courtroom difficult the order.