Calcutta High Court Transfers Abhishek Banerjee's Defamation Suit Against Suvendu Adhikari To Kolkata From Burdwan

The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday ordered the transfer of a defamation suit filed by Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee against BJP MLA and Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari from Burdwan Court to a Court in Kolkata.  Adhikari had moved an application under Section 24 of the Code of Civil Procedure (CPC) seeking transfer of the suit now pending in the court of learned Civil Judge (Senior Division), 1st Additional Court at Burdwan to the court of learned Civil Judge (Senior Division) at Contai, Purba Medinipur. 

Justice Subhasish Dasgupta directed that the defamation suit will be heard before a City Civil Court in Kolkata from January 14 and accordingly observed, 

"The transfer application is disposed of, directing the learned Civil Judge (Senior Division), 1st Additional Court, at Burdwan to transfer the Title Suit No.52 of 2021, to the court of learned Chief Judge, City Civil Court, at Calcutta within a fortnight from the date of communication of this order. Both the parties are accordingly directed to ensure their respective appearance before the transferee court on 14th January, 2022."

Abhishek Banerjee had filed the instant defamation suit against Adhikari before the Burdwan Court in connection with certain alleged derogatory remarks made by Adhikari while addressing a public gathering at Khejuri in Purba Medinipur district. 

The Court was apprised by the concerned counsels that the pending suit is at the preliminary stage pertaining to the service of summons and hence qualifies for a transfer. Furthermore, advocate Aniruddha Chatterjee appearing for Adhikari extended a suggestion before the Court that since both the parties generally remain very busy owing to their hectic schedule, a transfer of the case from Burdwan to Calcutta is plausible. This was not opposed by advocate Anirban Ray, appearing for Banerjee.

Accordingly, the Court agreed to the transfer request after observing that the 'Court finds no wrong to accept the same'. 

However, the Court cautioned that this order is passed without going into the merits of the case and without prejudice to the rights and contentions of the parties.

Case Title: Suvendu Adhikari v. Abhishek Banerjee 

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