SC puts in abeyance arrest warrant against West Bengal BJP candidate Bharati Ghosh

The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted protection from arrest or any other coercive action to BJP leader and former IPS officer Bharati Ghosh, till the Assembly elections were over in West Bengal.

Ghosh, who was once considered close to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, had subsequently joined the rival BJP. She is a candidate from the Debra constituency of West Midnapore district against Trinamool Congress candidate Humayun Kabir, also a former IPS officer.

Acting on her plea against a fresh case lodged by the state police, a three-judge bench presided over by Justice Ashok Bhushan directed to keep arrest warrants in abeyance. The court restrained the state authorities from taking any coercive action.

Senior advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul, appearing for Ghosh, submitted that she was being hounded by the state government and she had no idea of FIR and charge sheet registered against her.

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He said the state government has turned vindictive against her and she apprehended that government may revive cases during the Assembly election.

Senior advocate Sidharth Luthra, appearing for the West Bengal government, contested Kaul’s submissions.

The bench, also comprising Justices S Abdul Nazeer and Hemant Gupta, however, directed that Ghosh should not be arrested till the election was over.

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The court ordered that arrest warrant arrest issued against her should be kept in abeyance to allow her to file nomination and to campaign for the election.

In her application, Ghosh said she faced unprecedented violence in all booths of Keshpur and an FIR was lodged against her during the 2019 Lok Sabha with "incorrect, baseless and malicious contentions, all of which are part of a well-planned political vendetta".

Despite apex court order of "no coercive steps" in series of "false cases" lodged against her on February 19, 2019, which was extended from time to time, she has been subjected to the practice of entangling in new cases and continues to face pressure in all possible manner.

The FIR at Keshpur police station was lodged against Ghosh for alleged voluntary causing hurt, wrongful restraint and attempt to murder and under provisions of Representation of People's Act, during Parliamentary elections on May 12, 2019. She said this FIR was not uploaded until recently.