Kolkata, 08 July (H.S.): The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday granted interim protection to former West Bengal minister Aroop Biswas in connection with an alleged attempt to murder case arising out of an incident at the Alipore court premises. A single bench of Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya directed that the investigating agency must inform the court before taking any coercive action against Biswas. The matter has been listed for further hearing on July 23.

During the hearing, senior advocate Kishore Dutta, appearing for Biswas, referred to recent incidents in the state and argued that accused persons were being assaulted in the presence of the police. He questioned why individuals already in custody were allegedly being attacked and urged the court to intervene.

Making an oral observation, Justice Bhattacharyya said the practice of parading accused persons with ropes tied around their waists should be stopped. The court also directed the investigating agency to preserve all CCTV footage from the day of the alleged incident to ensure that electronic evidence remains intact during the investigation.

Notably, on June 10, the Calcutta High Court had also granted interim protection to Biswas in connection with the widely discussed Messi case.

The present case stems from a complaint lodged on June 26 by advocate Nirmalendu Kumar Ghosh at Alipore Police Station. In his complaint, Ghosh accused Aroop Biswas, along with his supporters and associates, of assault, physical intimidation and attempting to murder him.

According to the complaint, the incident took place on June 18 inside the Alipore court premises. On that day, Biswas' brother, Swarup Biswas, had been produced before the court in connection with a case involving allegations of cheating, extortion and sexual harassment. Ghosh claimed that he was representing the lawyers appearing for the complainant in that case.

The FIR alleges that supporters of Aroop Biswas and several alleged anti-social elements were present on the court premises and had been verbally abusing and provoking Ghosh and a few other lawyers since the morning. The situation allegedly escalated into a physical assault.

Ghosh further alleged that while trying to defend himself, he suffered a serious injury to his right thumb, besides sustaining injuries to his back and right shoulder. He said fellow advocates helped him leave the spot, following which he underwent treatment at SSKM Hospital.

Police sources said the allegations are being thoroughly investigated and that CCTV footage from the court premises will be examined to establish the sequence of events.

It may be recalled that tension had erupted at the Alipore court complex on June 19 following protests by a section of lawyers over Aroop Biswas' presence there. The criminal complaint was subsequently registered in connection with those developments.

With the High Court's interim order now in place, the investigating agency cannot take any coercive action against Aroop Biswas without first informing the court. The case will next be heard on July 23, when the court is expected to review the progress of the investigation and related issues.

Hindusthan Samachar / Satya Prakash Singh