New Delhi: The West Bengal government on Tuesday said that the Supreme court cannot go into the validity of a closure report filed by the state police in a criminal matter as this jurisdiction rests with the magistrate’s court.
The bench of Justice A.K. Sikri, Justice S. Abdul Nazeer and Justice M.R. Shah was told that it is the magistrate’s court that alone could take a call on the closure report filed by the state police and the top court is not meant for this.
Senior counsel Kapil Sibal appearing for the West Bengal government said that there were three options available to magistrate’s court — either to accept the closure report, reject it or order further investigation.
As Sibal sought to impress upon the point that closure report could only be looked into by the magistrate’s court, Justice Sikri observed: “Not being political here, much is also happening in West Bengal.”
“Much is also happening in CBI … all of this is just politics,” Sibal quipped back, with Justice Sikri clarifying that they have used word “also”.
The witty exchange between Justice Sikri and Sibal took place during the hearing on a PIL petition by an advocate Gaurav Bhatia seeking CBI probe into the alleged killing of three BJP workers in the state. He alleged that FIR in the case was registered 18 days after the killings took place.
The body of 32-year-old Dulal Kumar was found hanging from a high-tension tower in Dabha village of Purulia district.
Prior to that, the body of a 20-year-old Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker Trilochan Mahato was also found hanging from a tree in Balarampur area of the Purulia district.
The BJP has accused the ruling Trinamool, miscreants, mafia and the police for the killing of its workers.
As Bhatia told the court that they have not been provided with the copy of the post-mortem examination report, Sibal said the very next day of the incident a case of unnatural death was registered.
As Bhatia said that the family members of the victims were not getting security cover, whereas one accused was having security protection, Sibal in a jibe said: “All doctors are dishonest. All state agencies are dishonest. State is dishonest, all are dishonest.”
Since the lawyers on both sides needed some time to advance their arguments, the court adjourned the hearing for Thursday.
–IANS
