KOLKATA: A single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court, on Monday, granted an interim shield to Suvendu Adhikari, the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the West Bengal Assembly, from any coercive police action in an FIR registered against him at Khardah Police Station in North 24 Parganas district.
The single-judge bench of Justice Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee granted the interim shield to Adhikari for 12 weeks till July and ruled that till further orders, the police will not be able to take any action, including arrest, against him. The matter will be heard again in July.
Adhikari this time is simultaneously contesting from Nandigram Assembly constituency in East Midnapore district, where he is the sitting MLA, and from Bhabanipur in South Kolkata, where he is pitted against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
The Khardah Police Station filed a suo motu FIR against the LoP on December 29, 2020, for making objectionable remarks. Adhikari had approached the Calcutta High Court seeking dismissal of the complaint to avoid any trouble before the elections.