The leader of the opposition in West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, on Monday faced the ire of Calcutta High Court’s Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam for the subject of his public interest litigation (PIL) related to Kolkata’s iconic Jadavpur University.
Adhikari filed the PIL alleging attack on him recently outside the JU campus when he went there leading a BJP team to protest against the recent death of fresher of the university.
The first year student of Bengali honours died on August 10 after falling from the balcony of a students’ hostel. It is suspected that he became a victim of ragging.
Claiming that the ‘attack’ was mastermind by an organisation named Revolutionary Students’ Federation (RSF), which according to him is an anti-national outfit, Adhikari demanded a National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe into the matter.
On Monday, as the matter came up for hearing, the Chief Justice expressed anguish over the basic subject of the PIL. He even went to the extent of telling the petitioner’s counsel either to withdraw the plea or it will be dismissed.
“Is petition motivated by newspaper reports? Many such petitions are filed based on newspaper reports with a plea for fast-track hearing. Does the petitioner understand the gravity of the matter? Either withdraw the petition or I will dismiss it,” the Chief Justice said.
This is perhaps for the first time that a PIL filed by the leader of the opposition has evoked such a negative observation from the court. In most cases earlier, different judges of the Calcutta High Court had made observations or passed orders in his favour only.
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