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The top court on Friday (Jul 19) agreed to hear a plea filed by a woman staffer of West Bengal Raj Bhawan alleging sexual assault by Governor CV Ananda.
Supreme Court of India is finally hearing a petition challenging immunity granted to the governors under Article 361 of the Constitution. The top court on Friday (Jul 19) agreed to hear a plea filed by a woman staffer of West Bengal Raj Bhawan alleging sexual assault by Governor CV Ananda. A bench, headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, also issued notice in the matter and sought assistance from Attorney General for India R Venkataramani.
The bench also allowed the woman staffer to involve the Union of India and West Bengal government in her petition. The court has asked for a response within three weeks.
Petitioner’s argument
The advocate arguing for the petitioner said Article 361 can’t act as a bar against the investigation.
“It cannot be that there is no investigation. Evidence has to be gathered right now. It cannot be deferred indefinitely,” said Senior advocate Shyam Divan.
In a hard-hitting statement, the petition asked the court whether sexual harassment and molestation form part of discharging or performing duties by the Governor.”
“This court has to decide whether a victim like the Petitioner can be rendered remediless, with the only option being to wait for the accused to demit his office, which delay will then be inexplainable during the trial, and render the entire procedure a mere lip service, without any justice to the victim herein,” the plea read.
The advocate argued that any immunity can’t be absolute.
Article 361 of the Constitution
Article 361(2) of the Constitution states that “no criminal proceedings can be instituted or continued against the President, or Governor of a State, in any court, during their term of office.”
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“Such powers cannot be understood to be absolute so as to enable the Governor to do acts which are illegal or which strike at the root of Part III of the Constitution. Moreover, the said immunity cannot impair the police’s powers to investigate the offence or even naming the perpetrator in the complaint/FIR, despite specific averments to that effect,” the plea added.
(With inputs from agencies)
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Vikrant Singh
Geopolitical writer at WION, follows Indian foreign policy and world politics, a truth seeker.
