No stay order on Shahjahan's arrest

After Abhishek’s statement, Culcutta HC says a stay on probe doesn’t imply stay on arrest

- PRANAB MONDAL

A day after TMC's second-incommand Abhishek Banerjee held the judiciary responsible for inaction against Shahjahan Sheikh, the Calcutta High Court clarified on Monday that it had not issued any order to stay or prevent the arrest of the party's Sandeshkhali strongman, who faces allegations of land grabbing and sexual assault of women in the strife-hit island in North 24 Parganas.

"We clarify that there is no stay on arrest. A stay on investigation doesn't imply a stay on arrest. An FIR is registered, and he is branded as an accused. Therefore, he will have to be arrested," the court stated. A division bench, headed by Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya, clarified that the court had only a single judge's order to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the attack on ED officers when the agency attempted to raid Shahjahan's house in a foodgrain scam case.