Umamageswari Maruthappan
Supreme Court suspended the arrest warrant issued against Former IPS Officer and BJP Leader Bharati Ghosh until the cessation of the West Bengal State Elections.
Ms. Bharati Ghosh had moved the Top Court seeking their directions for staying the non-bailable arrest warrant issued against her and for quashing the FIRs filed against her in connection with the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections.
The Bench comprising of Ashok Bhushan, S Abdul Nazeer and Hemant Gupta directed the Police to refrain themselves from taking any coercive action against Ghosh and listed the matter for next hearing after two months.
The Former IPS Officer was initially a member of the Trinamool Congress Party (TMC) and later, in February 2019, had joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). She alleged that several false complaints were registered against her out of “political vendetta”.
The Supreme Court, on 19th February 2019, had granted her interim relief from coercive action which was renewed from time to time. However, despite that, the State Police has attempted to arrest Ghosh, Senior Advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul said while representing Ms. Ghosh.
However, Advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for the State, stated that neither she has been arrested by the Police nor they had issued any coercive action. He clarified that Ghosh chose not to appear before the trial court in a case and that it was the court that had issued coercive process against her.
In the upcoming election, Bharati Ghosh is contesting from Derba constituency against Trinamool Congress candidate Humayun Kabir who is also a former IPS officer. Consequently, this order of the Top Court comes as a relief to the candidate as well as the party.