SC stays LS Secretariat notice to Bengal chief secretary, DGP over BJP MP's 'misconduct' complaint

The Supreme Court on Monday stayed proceedings before the Lok Sabha Privileges Committee, which sought the personal appearance of the West Bengal Chief Secretary, the state DGP, the Basirhat DM, and ASP on a complaint filed by MP and Bengal BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar for injuries suffered by him during a protest over alleged sexual assault in Sandeshkhali.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday stayed proceedings before the Lok Sabha Privileges Committee which sought the personal appearance of the West Bengal Chief Secretary, state DGP and others on a complaint filed by MP and Bengal BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar.

The BJP leader had alleged that he had sustained injuries during a protest over the alleged Sandeshkhali sexual assault.

Acting on a plea by WB Chief Secretary, Bhagwati Prasad Gopalika and others, a bench of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra issued notice to the Lok Sabha Secretariat seeking its response within four weeks.

The court suspended the proceedings before the committee and put the matter for hearing on March 22, 2024.

Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and A M Singhvi mentioned the matter, questioning the validity of the proceedings before the Privileges Committee, contending the protest referred to by the complainant MP had nothing to do with the Parliamentary duties and it cannot be called as breach of privilege.

They claimed a video evidence showed that the complainant himself pushed police personnel. The counsel also contended Section 144 of the CrPC was already proclaimed to be in the place.

Senior advocate Devashish Bharuka, appearing for the Lok Sabha Secretariat, submitted that the proceedings should not be interfered at the threshold.

Majumdar claimed he had suffered brutality and had sustained life-threatening injuries in the incident on Wednesday, last week.

The Privileges Committee acted on his complaint and issued notice to the officers on February 15.

The officers were Bhagwati Prasad Gopalika, Chief Secretary, Government of West Bengal; Rajeev Kumar, DGP Bengal; Hossain Mehedi Rehman, Superintendent of Police, Basirhat, North 24 Parganas District; Partha Ghosh, Additional SP, Basirhat, North 24 Parganas District; and Sharad Kumar Dwivedi, District Magistrate, North 24 Parganas District.