Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Thursday provided protection to West Bengal Congress President Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury from any coercive action by the state police in a case filed against him on non-bailable charges.
Granting protection to Chowdhury, the single-judge bench of Justice Jay Sengupta also barred the state police from submitting the final report on the matter without prior permission of the court.
In case the police want to question the Congress leader, they will have to do it through video-conferencing and that too, after informing him 48 hours in advance.
The single-judge bench has directed both parties to submit their argument to the court in the form of affidavits.
On Wednesday, Chowdhury approached the High Court seeking protection in the case as well as with the plea of quashing the FIR registered against him by the police in the matter.
Police, in a notice served to Chowdhury under Section 41A of the CrPC, had accused him of making provocative statements at Harishchandrapur in Malda district on January 31 when Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra rally had passed there.
As per the police, the provocative statements made by Chowdhury left the local party workers excited and there was the possibility of a major law & order incident.
On January 31, when the rally entered Malda from Bihar, the windscreen of Rahul Gandhi’s vehicle was smashed, and Chowdhury claimed that this happened as someone threw stones at the vehicle.
(IANS)
