No need to plead their case: Calcutta HC junks plea against attack on ED officers

Calcutta: A public interest litigation (PIL) plea exposing the "brutal attack" on Enforcement Directorate (ED) personnel during searches earlier this month to conduct raids in West Bengal's Sandeshkhali and Bongaon was rejected by the Calcutta High Court on Thursday.

A Bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Supratim Bhattacharya wasn’t inclined to take up the plea after noting that the petition was largely based on newspaper reports. 

According to court, the petitioner despite being a practising advocate didn’t undertake any research before filing the plea. “Based upon newspaper reports, without any research by the petitioner, a writ petition cannot be entertained at this juncture.”

The Court was further of the view that ED, being a central agency, has all the expertise to handle this situation. 

ED was reportedly attacked when they were on an official raid to investigate 18 places across West Bengal, connected to the Ration scam, allegedly involving ₹660 crore. It was submitted that this was an act of waging war against a government agency.

During the hearing of the case, the Court questioned the research of the petitioner before filing the plea. “Earlier PILs would come due to failure of state machinery, asking for a central agency. Here this agency is a central agency, highly technical, they can take care of themselves. Who are you? You have collected newspaper cuttings, without doing any research. Someone cannot fire off your shoulders. Therefore unless the petitioner establishes that he has done research, more than paper cuttings, it is very difficult”, the Court reportedly stated. 

The Court further pointed out that the petitioner didn’t have to plead the case of the ED or the police since they are highly “technical people” and can handle themselves. If at all they require any protection, they can directly knock the doors of the High Court, the Court added before dismissing the plea.