Molestation case: Woman employee of West Bengal Raj Bhavan moves Supreme Court against immunity to Governor Bose

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, July 4

A contractual woman employee, who accused West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose of molesting her, has moved the Supreme Court against “blanket immunity” given to governors under Article 361(2) of the Constitution, saying it rendered her ‘remediless’.

According to Article 361(2), “No criminal proceedings whatsoever shall be instituted or continued against the President, or the Governor of a State, in any court during his term of office.”

“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 unexplainable during the trial, and render the entire procedure a mere lip service, without any justice to the victim herein,” the woman submitted.

The petitioner urged the top court to frame specific guidelines on immunity from criminal prosecution enjoyed by governors under the Constitution.

The contractual woman employee of the Raj Bhavan, who had lodged a complaint with the Kolkata Police alleging that she was molested by Bose in the Governor’s House on April 24 and May 2, demanded a probe into the case by the West Bengal Police and protection for her and her family besides compensation from the government for loss of her reputation.

She alleged that Bose orchestrated a “ridiculous drama” to deflect attention from his actions, emphasising that he should have provided the CCTV footage from premises to police at the outset of the investigation. The footage was shown to a select group of people and journalists at the Raj Bhavan.

Bose had filed a defamation case against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on June 28, a day after the Chief Minister claimed that women complained to her that they were afraid of visiting the Raj Bhavan because of the activities there. The Calcutta High Court has adjourned the hearing on the issue till Thursday.