Top Court on Mamata Banerjee v. Poll Panel: “Can’t Shut Our Eyes To Reality”

Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s behavior of wading into the middle of a central agency inquiry and putting “democracy in jeopardy” was condemned by the Supreme Court on Wednesday. One day before the state’s elections, the hurtful comments are made.

The Enforcement Directorate, or ED, has accused state authorities and Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of tampering with its investigation and searches at the offices of the Trinamool-affiliated political consulting business Indian Political Action Committee, or I-PAC. As part of an investigation into money laundering, the raids took place in early January.

“This is not a dispute between the state and the union. A Chief Minister of any state cannot walk into the midst of an investigation, put the democracy in peril, and then say don’t convert this into a dispute between the state and the Union,” the Supreme Court said. 

The agency claims that Mamata Banerjee entered the I-PAC office and the residence of its creator, Pratik Jain, while the searches were in progress and left with a laptop, phone, and several documents. She was escorted by state officials. Prior to the elections, the state had asserted that the raids were politically motivated and intended to weaken the Trinamool Congress.

“This is per se an act committed by an individual who happens to be the Chief Minister keeping the whole democracy in jeopardy,” the top court underlined.

The top court said the Constitution framers would have disapproved of the act. 

“You have taken us through the writings of HM Seervai, BR Ambedkar, but none of them would have conceived this situation in this country that one day a sitting Chief Minister will walk into the office during an ongoing investigation,” the court said. 

The Supreme Court also noted that earlier this month, a sizable crowd gheraoed seven judicial officers, including three women, inside the Kaliachak 2 Block Development Office (BDO) in Bengal’s Malda district for several hours, claiming that the names of legitimate voters had been removed from the electoral rolls.

Mass removals from the electoral rolls under the ongoing Special Intensive Revision, or SIR, set off the deadlock.

“This is an extraordinary situation. Before the other bench where the FIR is under question, we have seen the situation that several judicial officers had been kept hostage. And you want the petitioner should have gone to a magistrate under section 200? We cannot shut our eyes to the reality of what’s happening. We cannot lose sight of the practical situation which is present in the state,” an irate top court said. 

The Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court was forced to intervene personally, placing group calls to the home secretary and the Director General of Police before the judicial officers were rescued late at night. 

“Don’t compel us to make observations. This is not a litigation between Ram vs Shyam. This is an extraordinary situation where the contours are totally different. The court has to take decision keeping in view socio-political realities. It is an ever-evolving process,” it said.