Calcutta HC shields Congress candidate Milan Pradhan from fresh arrest ahead of Nandigram bypoll

The Calcutta High Court on Thursday directed police authorities not to take any action against Congress candidate Milan Pradhan until October 12 in connection with a 2007 case registered at Khejuri police station in Purba Medinipur district, holding that he would not be treated as arrested in that prosecution.

Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya passed the order while hearing a plea by Mr. Pradhan's counsel that he had been shown as arrested and remanded to judicial custody till October 7 in a 2007 criminal case that had not been placed before the court on September 22. The court noted that the State had not produced any document to show that a production warrant had been served on Mr. Pradhan.

"It is surprising to note that the said criminal prosecution is of 2007 and the investigating officer made a prayer for treating the petitioner as 'shown arrest' on September 19," the court observed.

The judge verbally asked Additional Advocate General Rajdeep Majumdar to allow Mr. Pradhan to contest the Nandigram byelection properly. The poll is scheduled for October 6, with campaigning to end on October 4.

The court had on September 22 also verbally directed the State's counsel to let the Congress candidate contest the byelection provided he secured bail in five criminal cases in which he had been arrested. On that date, the State informed the court that five of the cases against him had been withdrawn by the previous government and that he was not wanted in a sixth. It also said he had been arrested and sent to judicial remand in the other five cases.

Justice Bhattacharyya questioned why, after the September 22 order, Mr. Pradhan was arraigned in another case. The court said that once the State had submitted that he was not wanted in any other case, he should not be tagged in a fresh one.

Mr. Pradhan's counsel Ayan Bhattacharjee submitted that he was unaware of the Khejuri police station case and that it was therefore not brought to the court's notice earlier. He also said the prosecution had not disclosed the production warrant to the High Court, and prayed for an order barring the State from taking steps against the candidate in any other case.

The Additional Advocate General said the Contai ACJM court had issued a production warrant against Mr. Pradhan on September 19 in the Khejuri case, in which he faces charges of murder, attempt to murder and other sections of the Indian Penal Code. He said the previous government had withdrawn all six cases in 2020, but the High Court had ordered their reinstatement in 2021 on a public interest litigation because they involved murder charges. Asked what the investigating officer had been doing until now, the Additional AG said the previous government had not acted on the cases.

Mr. Pradhan has already filed bail applications in four criminal cases. The cases against him stem from the violent agitation against land acquisition by the then Left Front government in Nandigram and Khejuri in 2007. Police have said the pending cases include allegations of murder, attempt to murder, abduction with intent to murder, disappearance of evidence, house trespass, rioting with arms and offences under the Arms Act.

His arrest on September 18 came hours after Mamata Banerjee announced that her faction of the Trinamool Congress would support the Congress candidate in Nandigram, after its own nominee, Sanchita Pradhan De, withdrew from the contest.