Trinamool Targets High Court Judges By Name

'Targeting judges by name creates a chilling effect, discouraging impartial rulings,' said a senior advocate from the Calcutta High Court.

- SUPROTIM MUKHERJEE

With the Mamata Banerjee government facing setback after setback before the Calcutta High Court and the Supreme Court of India, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) party has trained its guns on the judges who passed the verdicts and orders. Recently, the TMC has targeted Calcutta High Court Justices Amrita Sinha, Rajasekhar Mantha, and Debangshu Basak for issuing rulings perceived as unfavorable to the party's interests.

The criticism has come in the form of public statements and protests. TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh has criticized the judges by name, a practice that has few parallels in recent memory. "Targeting judges by name creates a chilling effect, discouraging impartial rulings," said a senior advocate from the Calcutta High Court, speaking anonymously.

Justice Sinha has long been a focal point of TMC's ire due to her stringent orders in high-profile cases involving the party. She has been hearing matters related to the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment scam, including cases implicating TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee. She imposed a Rs 25 lakh fine on Banerjee, prompting accusations of bias from TMC leaders, including Banerjee himself, who moved the Supreme Court to request that cases involving him not be heard by Sinha.

This week, she issued an interim stay prohibiting the State Government's financial relief scheme for non-teaching staff who lost jobs after a Supreme Court order, which TMC labeled a move by "anti-Bengal" forces.

The 26,000 teachers and non-teaching staff lost their jobs after a Supreme Court judgment in a case in which the former TMC number two and Education Minister Partha Chatterjee and a host of party leaders are behind bars for corruption.