'Let Him Contest': Supreme Court Adjourns West Bengal Plea Against Interim Bail Of Nandigram Congress Candidate Milan Pradhan

After Justice Joymalya Bagchi's recusal, the Supreme Court today adjourned the plea filed by West Bengal government challenging interim bail granted by the Calcutta High Court to Milan Pradhan, who is contesting the Nandigram Assembly by-election on Congress ticket. 

A bench of CJI Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana adjourned the matter to October 7, after Justice Bagchi recused citing a 'conflict of interest'. The judge said that during his practice years, he represented some of the parties in the underlying case involving Pradhan. 

Last week, the Court had denied Solicitor General Tushar Mehta's plea for urgent listing of the matter on Thursday. The SG had submitted that the bye-election was scheduled for Monday and the matter would become infructuous by then. The CJI however declined the request, indicating that the Court was inclined to dismiss the State's plea. "We can assure we will dismiss it, but will dismiss on Monday", the CJI said.  

Today, the SG said that certain facts gathered by him warranted the Court's attention. He highlighted that non-bailable warrants were issued against Pradhan way back in 2007, but not executed. Claiming that Pradhan was "protected" by the administration, the SG submitted that the NBWs only came to notice when Pradhan filed his nomination form. 

In response, CJI Kant expressed that action must then be taken against the police officers in question. "Then action should be taken against those police officers. There should be accountability of system. Suddenly when someone wants to contest elections...", the judge remarked. 

The SG said that the Court may well take any action deemed fit, but it may also hear the State's challenge to the interim bail. 

Senior Advocate Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi, for Pradhan, urged that the State only wanted a "pound of flesh" before the elections. He underlined that the subject case dates back to 2007, and interim bail has been granted only for 21 days. 

Hearing the parties, the CJI expressed to SG Mehta, "let him (Pradhan) contest and conclude elections peacefully". Although the SG prayed for the matter to be listed tomorrow, the bench posted it on October 7. "It's an old issue, thousands of persons were there", remarked CJI Kant.  The by-election is taking place tomorrow.

To recap, the Calcutta High Court, on September 29, granted 3 weeks' interim bail to Congress candidate Milan Pradhan, who is contesting the Nandigram Assembly by-election, allowing him to remain out of custody till October 21. Justice Tirthankar Ghosh passed the order on Pradhan's plea seeking interim bail to enable him to contest and campaign in the October 6 by-election.

Pradhan had been arrested in connection with criminal cases arising from the 2007 Nandigram agitation after he had filed his nomination papers. The High Court noted that he was not in custody when he filed his nomination and that the State had not produced material showing that he was wanted in connection with any offence after 2007. The Court also noted that the cases relied upon by the State had been investigated by the CBI and that the police had considerable time to execute the warrants in cases dating back nearly 19 years.

The State had opposed interim bail, submitting that the cases involved allegations including murder and that coercive processes had been issued against Pradhan. It also raised apprehensions about the possibility of him influencing witnesses. Pradhan's counsel, however, argued that he was arrested after announcing his candidature and that the State had not placed material demonstrating his role in the alleged offences. The High Court ultimately held that Pradhan should be given an opportunity to contest the election and granted him interim bail till October 21.