Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay ordered a CBI probe only for the order to be stayed by a division bench the same day. Nevertheless, the single-judge sat again in the afternoon and handed over the case documents to the CBI.
A division bench of Justices Soumen Sen and Uday Kumar said that the order passed by Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay to hand over the probe in the case to the CBI was void ab initio.
Freedom of the press is indispensable to democracy, observed the Calcutta High Court recently while granting anticipatory bail to a journalist who was booked in an extortion case after he shot videos on illegal mining.
BJP-backed outfit Kalighat Bahumukhi Seva Samiti moved the Court after the event was objected to by State authorities. The Court has now allowed the event's conduct at an alternative location and with a 60-person limit.
The Court declined to accede to a plea by BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari to stop the January 22 rally. Adhikari had raised concerns that violence may ensue if the TMC rally is conducted on the Ram Mandi inauguration day.