SC Stays Bharati Ghosh's Non-Bailable Arrest Warrant Till Bengal Assembly Polls

Bharati Ghosh: The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the non-bailable arrest warrant against Bharati Ghosh, a BJP candidate, till the West Bengal assembly elections conclude.

Ghosh is a former IPS Officer contesting for an assembly seat from Debra constituency from BJP side against the TMC candidate Humayun Kabir, who is too an ex-IPS Officer.

The judgement to stay her arrest warrant was given by a bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan, Hemant Gupta and S Abdul Nazeer, they said that there should be coercive action taken in Ghosh's case. The next hearing on her is been scheduled after two months.

Bharti Ghosh is accused of causing violence during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Neeraj Kishan Kaul, an advocate said that the court had been protecting her. According to reports, many cases were filed against Ghosh after she had resigned from TMC. He added that the Supreme Court protected her in 2019 when it ruled that she will be interrogated after the Lok Sabha polls concluded. He advocated that Ghosh be allowed to file for nomination and campaign in the WB assembly polls. The bench asked advocate Siddharth Luthra who appeared for the West Bengal government, that why the state sought her arrest when the SC had granted her protection in a few cases.

Luthra then said that Ghosh did not appear for the hearing of one of her cases and that she should go there for the cancellation of the arrest warrant. He added that she was not arrested during the investigation and that the court issued coercive action against her and not the police.

Bharati Ghosh moved to Supreme Court to seek quashing of the arrest warrant issued against her in the 2019 Lok Sabha Polls case. She accused that she has been implicated in cases out of political vendetta despite the court granting her relief. Read more about her here.