The Supreme Court has given the Union Minister of State Nisith Pramanik interim protection from arrest in an attempt to murder case against him.
Nisith Pramanik who is an Indian politician from West Bengal is currently serving as the Union Minister of State, Ministry of Home Affairs and Union Minister of State, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
The Court directed the State of West Bengal not to take any coercive action against Pramanik until the next date of hearing in the anticipatory bail plea filed by the minister before the Calcutta High Court.
Supreme Court bench comprising of Justice Bela M Trivedi and Justice Pankaj Mithal found that the plea for anticipatory bail plea is going to be heard by the Calcutta High Court on January 22 .
The court has directed the High Court for expeditious disposal of the case.
The matter arose after a Cooch Behar resident was shot at in 2018, allegedly at the behest of Pramanik, the Union Sports and Home Minister of State and a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The police had subsequently registered a criminal case against him for offences under the Arms Act and for attempt to murder. Pramanik then filed a plea for anticipatory bail before the Calcutta High Court, which on January 4 adjourned the matter.
This led to the instant appeal before the apex court.
The Supreme Court had directed the West Bengal government to file its response to the plea.
During the proceedings today, Senior Advocate PS Patwalia and advocate Bansuri Swaraj appeared for Pramanik and sought protection until the matter is listed before Calcutta High Court.
Representing the West Bengal government, Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan pointed out that the petitioner could have approached the Chief Justice of the High Court for relief. However, he assured the Court that no arrest would be made despite the absence of a recorded undertaking.
After the Court directed expeditious disposal of the matter, Patwalia pressed for interim protection, while Sankaranarayanan argued that given the number of cases, Pramanik could have been arrested long ago.
The Court then ordered that no coercive action be taken against the BJP minister until the anticipatory bail plea is listed before the High Court.
The Court also clarified that it has said nothing on the merits of the matter……
The case pertains to last year Feb 25, when the Union Minister of State for Home was visiting his constituency, there was an incident in the course of which his car and convoy were attacked.
The allegation is that this was at the behest of TMC party and that the police took no action against the perpetrators.
Adhikari sought transfer of the probe to CBI. He alleged that the police personnel present on the spot took no step to stop the perpetrators. It was further submitted that the incident was part of a larger conspiracy to bodily harm the Minister.
The High Court took note of an affidavit which was filed by Superintendent of Cooch Behar and it was of the view that state police authorities were not likely to conduct a fair investigation. It noted that though the incident took place on 25th, FIR was registered on 7th.
Further, when CISF went to register FIR on 26th Feb, the police refused to do so; and that no action was taken.
As per the Superintendent however, the report was made at the preliminary stage.Before the Supreme Court, Dr AM Singhvi and Mr Gopal Sankarnarayanan argued that the High Court missed certain crucial aspects of the status report which show that the police was still investigating.
They submitted there was no reason for the High Court to transfer the probe to CBI on a PIL moved by an MLA and leader of opposition.
PS Patwalia for respondents opposed the plea. In the course of the discussion, the Supreme Court perused the affidavit filed by SP before the High Court and then expressed inclination to allow the petition.
The CJI said, “The High Court relies upon the status report then it says how can we expect your police to take up investigation. They have not looked at the action. We’ll set aside this judgement, send the matter back to the High Court and ask the police to file an updated status report.”