Agartala: A Tripura High Court division bench comprising Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice Arindam Lodh has concluded the hearing of the controversial case in connection with the raids conducted by former West Tripura District Magistrate Sailesh Kumar Yadav in a wedding banquet hall.
The District Magistrate on the night of April 26, 2021, raided a wedding ceremony and accused the organizers of flouting then enforced pandemic restrictions on crowding.
Video clips of the District Magistrate misbehaving with people gathered at the ceremony, the Puroheet (Hindu priest), the groom, and even the police officials went viral on social media platforms and ended up drawing widespread condemnation.
Even celebrities like playback singer Sonu Nigam also sharply reacted to the “disgraceful” act of the District Magistrate; something which is unbecoming of a bureaucrat of that stature.
Yadav was removed from his post shortly after the incident according to a ruling of the High Court and an internal inquiry was ordered. The IAS officer is now posted as Commissioner of Agartala Municipal Corporation.
The Court of Tripura took suo moto cognizance of the incident and the legal proceedings began. In the meantime, three writ petitions were filed in the High Court in connection with the incident. The High Court division bench headed by the Chief Justice clubbed all the petitions together. The hearing on all the cases finally concluded on Wednesday. The Court, however, reserved the verdict on the matter.
Specially Appointed Public Prosecutor Samrat Kar Bhowmik and Advocate General SS Dey who pleaded with the Court on behalf of Yadav justified his act defining him as an enforcer of the law. Both the senior advocates argued that his only motive was to enforce the law and ensure that the prohibitory orders should not go for a toss.
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The internal inquiry report that was submitted before the Court earlier is also stated to be against Yadav. Defending the bureaucrat, the advocate General said that writ petitions won’t serve the purpose as specific cases were already registered with the police. Meanwhile, senior advocate Puroshattam Roy Barman who is representing the petitioners said that if a district magistrate breaks the law in full public view and roams scot-free, the general public will lose their faith in the rule of law. According to Barman, the wedding ceremonies had procured the necessary prior permission before making the arrangements. Despite having shown the clearance issued by the office of the District Magistrate, he did not stop on that particular day.
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