The Calcutta High Court on Friday lifted the blanket protection granted to Bharatiya Janata Party leader Suvendu Adhikari from the registration of first information reports against him without court permission, The Hindu reported.

Justice Joy Sengupta said that such protection, which was granted to the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly by the court in 2022 as an interim order, cannot remain in force indefinitely and had to end, The Indian Express reported.

In 2022, Adhikari had moved the court seeking the quashing of FIRs registered against him by the West Bengal Police, claiming that the cases were “politically motivated” and filed after he quit the ruling Trinamool Congress to join the BJP.

Adhikari had quit the Trinamool Congress ahead of the 2021 state polls.

In December 2022, Justice Rajasekhar Mantha issued an order granting the Nandigram MLA blanket protection and said that no new case can be filed against him without prior approval from the court, The Hindu reported.

The judge had also stayed 26 FIRs already filed against Adhikari, The Indian Express reported.

On Friday, the court dismissed 15 of the 19 cases filed against the BJP leader. However, Sengupta also ordered a joint Special Investigation Team comprising the Central Bureau of Investigation and state police officials to probe four other FIRs that the BJP leader had sought to be quashed.

Adhikari told reporters that he was happy with the court’s decision.

“The High Court has dismissed most of the cases that [Chief Minister] Mamata Banerjee filed against me in the last five years through her police,” The Indian Express quoted Adhikari as saying. “The remaining cases have been taken over by the CBI.”

He added that the court’s ruling had proven that the state police was “Mamata’s plaything, a political tool”.

The Trinamool Congress said the ruling vindicated its stand, the newspaper reported.

“It’s a big setback for Adhikari,” The Indian Express quoted party Spokesperson Kunal Ghosh as saying. “We had repeatedly said that such blanket protection can’t continue for an indefinite period. The High Court has basically given a positive nod to our demand.”

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