Ashis Mandal v. State Of West Bengal And ORS.

11.8.2023 ap Suppl.

WPA 19481 of 2023 Ashis Mandal Vs.

The State of West Bengal & Ors.

Mr. Sourav Chatterjee Mr. Moyukh Mukherjee Mr. Soumya Nag Mr. Pritam Roy Mr. Aditya Tiwari Ms. Sagnika Banerjee Ms. Namrata Chatterjee ... For the petitioners.

Mr. Amal Kr. Sen Mr. Lal Mohan Basu ... For the State.

Let the affidavit-of-service filed by the petitioners be taken on record.

Let the report filed by the State be taken on record.

There is no dispute that the petitioner is a winning candidate in the Panchayat Samity Election held in the State on July 08, 2023 as a member of Tamluk Panchayat Samity. The petitioner apprehends that he will be prevented by the rival political parties from participating in the meeting scheduled to be held on August 14, 2023 at 11-00 a.m. for formation of Tamluk Panchayat Samity Board. The petitioner also apprehends that he may be arrested in connection with Tamluk Police Station Case Nos. 761 of 2023, 762 of

2023 and 763 of 2023 dated July 10, 2023 to prevent him from attending the meeting.

Learned advocate appearing for the State, on the other hand, submits that the petitioner name has been taken only in case no. 762 of 2023 of Tamluk Police Station.

Only to ensure the participation of the petitioner in the meeting for formation of Panchayat Samity Board, this Court is of the view that some limited protection should be extended to him.

Accordingly, this writ petition is disposed of with a direction upon the police authorities restraining them from taking any coercive step against the petitioner in connection with the aforesaid cases till August 16, 2023.

The petitioner undertakes that he would immediately after the completion of Board formation process shall pray for appropriate relief before the appropriate criminal course, if so required.

Since no affidavit has been used by the respondents, the allegations made in the writ petition are deemed to be denied.

With the above directions, WPA 19481 of 2023 is disposed of.

Urgent photostat certified copies of this order, if applied for, be made available to the parties upon compliance with the requisite formalities.

(Kausik Chanda, J.)