SC Sets Aside 25 Lakh Fine On TMC’s Kuntal Ghosh By Calcutta HC

The Supreme Court recently overturned the Calcutta High Court’s fine of Rs. 25 lakh while granting relief to TMC youth wing leader Kuntal Ghosh, an accused in West Bengal’s alleged teacher’s recruitment scam.

A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, stated, indicated Ghosh could raise “custodial torture” concerns in the special court while hearing the case.

Senior advocate Siddharth Dave, appearing for Ghosh, said the observations made by the high court on merits of the case and the imposition of the fine of Rs 25 lakh were unwarranted.

Senior advocate Siddharth Dave, representing Ghosh, asserted the unwarranted nature of the high court’s comments on the case’s merits and the imposed fine.

The bench stated, “The order for the payment of costs of Rs 25 lakhs shall stand deleted.”

Justice Amrita Sinha of Calcutta High Court, in May, rejected pleas by TMC’s general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, Mamata Banerjee’s nephew, and Kuntal Ghosh to revoke Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay’s directive for CBI & ED to question them in the alleged school recruitment scandal. She further imposed Rs. 25 lakh fines on each for attempting to nullify Justice Gangopadhyay’s April 13 order.

The High Court has clarified that, at that stage, it wasn’t expressing any opinion on the legality or correctness of the complaint in regard to custodial torture.

In the circumstances, the impugned order of the High Court shall not preclude the petitioner from pursuing the complaint before the Special Court,” stated the apex court as it resolved Ghosh’s plea. In his April 13 order, Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay encompassed a speech by Banerjee, quoting Ghosh, wherein Ghosh asserted pressure from central agencies to implicate the legislator in the recruitment scam case, under CBI’s investigative purview into the alleged recruitment fraud.