Calcutta HC overturns Abhijit Gangopadhyay’s verdict on Suvendu’s family
The Calcutta High Court on Monday, April 29 overturned a ruling by former judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay, which imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh on the Egra subdivisional police officer (SDPO) for allegedly “harassing” Krishnendu Adhikari, the elder brother of BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, who serves as Bengal’s leader of the opposition.
Gangopadhyay, who joined the BJP in March and is now the party’s Lok Sabha candidate from Tamluk, one of the constituencies in Purba Medinipur, the Adhikaris’ home district, issued the contested order.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya determined that Gangopadhyay’s ruling was made without affording the state (Bengal) an “adequate opportunity” to present its case, deeming such a circumstance as an “unwarranted” one.
The bench instructed the high court registry to schedule Krishnendu Adhikari’s petition for reconsideration before an appropriate bench in June and suspended a notice issued to him by the police.
The notice from the Egra police had requested Krishnendu’s attendance at a questioning session as a “witness” in a case concerning inadequate lighting on the Mecheda-Digha Bypass in Purba Medinipur. Adhikari approached the former high court judge’s court in November 2023, seeking to annul the notice, as he argued that the police had exceeded their authority by requiring him to bring ten years’ worth of income tax returns to the session.
Ganguly accepted Krishnendu’s petition and swiftly issued an order on the same day, imposing a fine of Rs 5 lakh on the Egra SDPO for “harassment”. “This amounts to nothing but harassment. The police force was not established to harass a citizen,” the former judge remarked.
