Supreme Court Disposes Of Plea Alleging Interference In Ongoing Criminal Case By Calcutta HC Judge & Her Husband

The Supreme Court on May 10 disposed of a plea alleging interference in an ongoing criminal investigation by a sitting Calcutta High Court judge and her lawyer-husband.

The petitioners, a 64-year-old widow and her daughter, had accused the High Court judge and her husband of pressuring the police to shield an accused in the criminal case emerging out of a family dispute. The petition however was disposed of today, noting that the chargesheet has been filed.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta passed the order, dictating: "No orders/directions are required to be passed in the present writ petition. The writ petition is disposed of. However, we clarify that we have not made any comments with regard to the status reports, investigation or the chargesheet filed by the police.. Any party aggrieved by any action can take appropriate remedy in accordance with law."

On the last date, the court had directed the State of West Bengal to file an up-to-date status report in sealed cover. The same was filed, however, looking at it, Justice Khanna said, "I have seen your status report, I don't want to comment about it".

The judge could also be heard saying to Senior Advocate Fernandes (for respondents) that the respondents brought politics into the case: "It appears that instead of doing your work in straightforward manner, you also want to deviate from here to there. You have brought politics into your FIR. You have! let me put it very clearly".

Justice Datta, on the other hand, commented, "Chargesheet has been filed against the relatives, let law take its own course".

To recap, the case pertained to a civil dispute over ancestral property. It took a troubling turn when a lawyer allegedly started exerting undue influence due to his marital connection with a sitting Calcutta High Court Judge.

As per allegations, the investigating officer in the case was summoned to the High Court judge's chambers, where he was reprimanded and instructed to drop the investigation as being purely civil in nature. Labelling the same “direct interference with an ongoing investigation of a case by employing extra-constitutional measures”, the petitioners moved the top Court.

They sought a fair investigation into the FIRs without any external interference and stressed the need for the top court's intervention: “The petitioners having faced systematic harassment at the hands of none other than a sitting judge of the highest constitutional office in the state, and being denied of their right to fair investigation and justice have lost all hope in the state machinery and has therefore invoked the extraordinary remedy guaranteed under Article 32 of the Constitution of India.”

Case Title: Bani Roy Choudhury & Anr. v. State of West Bengal & Ors. | Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 482 of 2023

Click here to read the order