In a setback for Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari ahead of the elections in the state, the Calcutta High Court on Friday withdrew the blanket protection that had prevented the police from taking coercive action against him without court permission.

The single judge bench of Justice Joy Sengupta observed Friday that such protection, granted earlier by the High Court as an interim order, cannot remain in force indefinitely and has to come to an end.

“An interim order can’t be continued for an indefinite period,” Justice Sengupta said, referring to Justice Rajasekhar Mantha’s three-year-old order.

In 2022, Adhikari had moved the High Court, seeking quashing of FIRs filed against him by West Bengal Police. Adhikari claimed that the cases were politically motivat

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