Overview
- The 169-page judgment set aside 15 FIRs after finding no specific allegations or prima facie offences against Adhikari and vacated a 2022 bar on fresh cases without court leave.
- The judge noted a barrage of prosecutions after Adhikari’s 2020 defection, citing identical FIRs filed within minutes and a belated, vague murder allegation tied to a security-guard’s death.
- A hybrid SIT comprising CBI and West Bengal Police officers will investigate remaining matters, including an alleged fake recruitment scam, with monitoring by the jurisdictional court.
- The ruling clarified that routine political speech does not automatically trigger Section 153A and rejected vicarious liability based solely on Adhikari’s political position, also noting no defamation of a political party under law.
- On October 29, the bench granted interim protection to Adhikari in two new FIRs over remarks about minister Birbaha Hansda, seeking case diaries by November 11 and setting protection until November 18.