Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court, on Friday, sought report from Kolkata Police on the alleged heckling of the Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari by a section of the booth-level officers (BLOs) in front of the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal.
A division bench of the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Partha Sarathi Sen, directed the state police to submit a report in the matter by March 5, acting on a petition filed by Adhikari accusing the city police personnel of making no effort to prevent the BLOs from heckling him at the gate of CEO’s office on Tuesday.
The division bench of Justice Paul and Justice Sen also directed the Kolkata Police to inform the court on the actions taken against the BLOs concerned.
The division bench directed the city police to submit a detailed report on the matter to the court by March 5, the date of the next hearing in the matter.
On Tuesday, tension erupted outside the CEO’s office in central Kolkata when protesting booth-level officers gathered at the location during Adhikari’s visit to submit a deputation. Some of them were even seen hurling their shoes towards the leader of the opposition.
Following the incident, Adhikari made strong remarks criticising the protesting BLOs and expressed his displeasure over the conduct of those involved in the demonstration.
It may be recalled that public interest litigation (PIL) concerning the security of the Leader of the Opposition is already pending before the bench of the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court.
The PIL has sought directions to ensure that political workers and supporters do not come close to the Leader of the Opposition during public programmes or official engagements in order to prevent security breaches.
In addition to the pending PIL, the fresh petition filed by Adhikari raises specific concerns regarding the recent protest incident and alleged lapses in security arrangements.
Earlier, Adhikari had also approached the Calcutta High Court after his convoy was allegedly attacked by miscreants in Chandrakona in West Midnapore district.
In that matter, Adhikari informed the Court that “instead of taking action against the attackers, the police had registered a case against him”.
Subsequently, Justice Suvra Ghosh had passed an interim order restraining the authorities from taking any coercive action against Suvendu Adhikari in connection with that case.
(IANS)
