SC grants bails to former Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee in teacher recruitment scam, directs to expedite trial

The top court said the suspended Trinamool Congress leader is to be released on February 1, 2025, or earlier if the trial court is able to complete certain proceedings before then. “In the event, the trial court is able to complete the directions…framing of charges and recording of some witnesses…at an earlier date, then the Appellant will be released on bail immediately thereafter and prior to February 1, 2025,” it said.

The court made it clear that Chatterjee “upon release shall not be appointed to any public office except that he shall continue to be a member of West Bengal Legislative Assembly during the pendency of the trial.”

The court said Chatterjee’s “claim…must be examined through the lens of various pleas he has taken to highlight his mitigating circumstances as well as the adverse impact it may cause in the wake of allegations of playing with the future of thousands of well-merited aspirants and undue benefits accruing to unobserving persons at the cost of these unsuccessful candidates.”

It said, “This latter perspective underscored the broader societal harm caused by such action and the erosion of trust in the integrity of public institutions.”

“In this light, the statement of the appellant’s close associate recorded under section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) assumes enormous significance as it constitutes prima facie evidence linking the appellant to substantial heaps of bribe money recovered from the associate’s residence and company premises,” the court said.

Additionally, the appellant’s prayer for bail must be “juxtaposed against the threat to life expressed by the said associate in her statement.”

In an earlier hearing, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Chatterjee, said he had been in custody for over two and a half years since his arrest in July 2022. It was during Partha Chatterjee’s tenure as the state education minister during 2014-2021 that the alleged teacher recruitment scam took place in the SSC and the Primary Education Board.

On Friday, the court clarified that “the question of evidential value of the statement recorded under section 50 of the PMLA has not been addressed at this stage, so that no prejudice is caused to the parties.”

“We. however, cannot be oblivious of the certain principles that a suspect cannot be held in custody indefinitely and that undertrial incarceration should not amount to punitive detention,” it said.

“The court would nevertheless ensure that affluent or influential accused do not obstruct the ongoing investigation, tamper with the evidence or influence witnesses, namely actions that undermine the fundamental doctrine of a fair trial.”

“Striking a balance between these two considerations and without expressing any opinion on the merits of the allegations”, it asked the trial court to decide on framing of charges before the commencement of the winter vacation or before December 31, 2024, whichever is earlier.

“The trial court, thereafter, has to fix a date within the second and third week of January 2025 for recording the statements of such prosecution witnesses who are most material or most vulnerable. All such witnesses, especially those who have expressed apprehension of danger to their lives, who might be two or three, will be examined on these dates,” it said.

The court said that the witnesses “will be examined without prejudice to the appellant’s right to challenge the decision on framing of charges if the decision is adverse and if he is so aggrieved.”

It underlined that “upon challenge, no stay of trial shall be granted.”

The bench said that in the event the examination is not completed on the date fixed due to unfortunate circumstances, the trial court must do so in the third and fourth week of January 2025.

It said Partha Chatterjee shall thereafter be released on bail on February 1, 2025 subject to his furnishing bail bond to the satisfaction of the trial court.

“We have not expressed any opinion on the merits of any other pending investigations, including the recent arrest of the appellant in one of the cases by the CBI,” it added.