The Calcutta High Court Thursday said Congress candidate Milan Pradhan should be allowed to contest the October 6 Nandigram Assembly bypoll despite being in judicial custody in connection with multiple criminal cases dating back to 2007. The court also granted him protection in one of the cases, directing police not to take steps against him in that matter until October 12 and saying he should not be treated as arrested in the case for the time being.
Pradhan was arrested on September 18 in connection with cases registered during the 2007 Nandigram agitation and was subsequently shown arrested in other cases from the same period. His legal team approached the High Court as the judicial custody orders threatened to keep him from campaigning ahead of the bypoll, for which campaigning is scheduled to end on October 4.
‘Allow him to contest’
“Allow him to contest,” Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya orally observed while addressing Additional Advocate General Rajdeep Majumder, who represented the West Bengal government. The court noted that Pradhan’s arrest and judicial custody did not by themselves disqualify him from contesting the election.
The Bench was dealing with Pradhan’s plea after his lawyers said he had been shown arrested and remanded in another 2007 criminal case that was not among the cases placed before the High Court during an earlier hearing on September 22. The court noted that the state had not produced any document showing that a production warrant had been served on Pradhan in connection with the case.
Justice Bhattacharyya expressed surprise over the timing of the police action in a criminal prosecution dating back nearly two decades. The court questioned why Pradhan was being shown arrested in 2026 in connection with a case registered in 2007 and directed the authorities not to take further steps against him in that particular case until October 12.
Judicial custody ahead of polling
Pradhan had been arrested on September 18 in connection with a 2007 murder case and was subsequently shown arrested in several other cases registered during the same year. Lower courts in Contai and Haldia in East Midnapore had sent him to judicial custody, with the detention extending into the period immediately surrounding the October 6 election.
His lawyers argued that continued custody would effectively prevent him from campaigning during the final phase of the election. The High Court had earlier indicated that Pradhan should be able to participate in the electoral process, subject to the outcome of proceedings concerning the cases in which he remained in custody.
In a separate proceeding Thursday, another Bench of the High Court also considered Pradhan’s request for bail in four cases. Justice Tirthankar Ghosh expressed the view that the Congress candidate should be allowed to participate in the election and sought the relevant case diaries from the state before considering the bail applications further.
Old cases return to focus
The criminal cases against Pradhan date to the period of the violent anti-land acquisition agitation in Nandigram in 2007. His arrest weeks before the bypoll has brought the old cases back into political and legal focus, with his lawyers questioning why action was being taken after such a long interval.
The state government has maintained that some of the cases involved outstanding warrants and that the police action was in accordance with legal procedure. Pradhan’s counsel, however, has challenged the manner and timing in which the cases have been pursued and sought protection from further coercive action.
The High Court’s intervention does not dispose of the criminal proceedings against Pradhan, and the allegations in the cases will continue to be dealt with separately. Its immediate focus has been on the legality of the recent police action and whether the candidate can participate in the electoral process while the cases remain pending.
October 6 contest
The Nandigram bypoll is scheduled for October 6, with campaigning ending two days earlier. The constituency has again emerged as a closely watched political battleground, making Pradhan’s custody and his ability to campaign an important issue in the run-up to polling.
The West Bengal government has challenged the single-Bench order granting Pradhan protection in the Khejuri case before a Division Bench of the High Court. The appeal is scheduled to be taken up Friday, while proceedings relating to Pradhan’s bail and the other cases against him are also continuing.