Sheikh Shahjahan’s anticipatory bail plea hearing postponed due to lawyers' strike

The crucial hearing in the anticipatory bail plea of absconding Trinamool Congress leader Shahjahan Sheikh, the accused mastermind behind the attack on ED and CAPF officers at Sandeshkhali on January 5, was postponed at a district court in Barasat due to a pen-down strike by lawyers.

The hearing is rescheduled to March 15, making it the second lower court where Shahjahan is seeking bail. A special PMLA court in Kolkata had earlier rejected his plea. The Calcutta High Court’s division bench clarified that there is no stay order on his arrest.

An FIR was filed against Shahjahan at the Sandeshkhali police station on Monday based on over 70 complaints from villagers. He is accused of harassing women, forcefully grabbing farmland, and flooding farmland with saline water to acquire land at low prices. Legal experts suggest the situation has become critical for Shahjahan with no restrictions on his arrest.

Legal experts feel that following the postponement of the hearing, the situation has become even more critical for Shahjahan considering that a division bench of the Calcutta High Court made it clear on Monday that there is no stay order on his arrest and hence there are no restrictions on the state police seeking to arrest him.