Trouble brews for ‘Pushpa’: Calcutta High Court rejects Jahangir Khan’s interim relief extension plea

To this, the court replied, “What is the prayer now? The order was passed keeping in mind the repoll that is over.”

Dutta submitted, “I have not received the FIRs. After the change of political scenario, FIRs are being lodged one after another, and secondly they are not being uploaded. The order is also to ensure that I am not subjected to persecution. Till date, no FIR has been supplied. One has to see, are the offences recent, is it that within a day or two of the incident the FIRs were filed?”

Opposing Khan’s plea, Additional Advocate General Rajdeep Majumdar said, “He [Khan] got the protection from Calcutta High Court and then the next day he claimed that he withdrew his candidatureship. There are a total of seven FIRs against him and we are continuing the investigation. The allegation of the Election Commission was that this person used to threaten voters. Although the court had said to cooperate, Khan was not available at his residence. The protection was given subject to his cooperation.”

On May 18, the single bench of Justice Saugata Bhattacharya passed the order while hearing Khan’s plea seeking protection from arrest and disclosure of all FIRs lodged against him during the election period. Khan was then contesting from the Falta constituency, where a repoll was announced following allegations of large-scale irregularities during the second phase of polling on April 29.

The court had then observed that a balance had to be maintained between allowing a candidate to participate in the democratic process and permitting the police investigation to continue. The court had observed then that several criminal cases against Khan were registered after the declaration of the Assembly poll results on May 4, and prima facie there appeared to be a “change in political scenario” following the change of government in the state.

The court had then clarified that the interim protection would apply only to existing cases and not to any fresh proceedings. It also directed Khan to cooperate with investigators and warned that the state would be free to approach the court if he failed to do so.

The court had further instructed that Khan should strictly follow the EC guidelines and refrain from intimidating or obstructing voters during campaigning.