West Bengal Raj Bhavan 'molestation' row: Supreme Court to examine ambit of immunity to governors under Article 361(2)

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, July 19

Do governors enjoy ‘blanket immunity’ from prosecution under Article 361(2) of the Constitution?

Acting on a petition filed by a contractual woman employee of West Bengal ‘Raj Bhavan’—who accused West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose of molesting her—the Supreme Court on Friday agreed to examine the scope and ambit of Article 361(2) of the Constitution which grants ‘blanket immunity’ to governors from any kind of criminal prosecution.

A three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud issued a notice to the West Bengal Government on her plea and granted her liberty to make also the central government a party.

The Bench – which also included Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra sought the assistance of Attorney General R Venkataramani in deciding the issue after senior advocate Shyam Divan, pointed out on behalf of the woman the peculiar situation created by the immunity.

“It cannot be that there is no investigation. Evidence has to be gathered right now. It cannot be deferred indefinitely till the Governor demits office.”

The contractual woman employee has alleged molestation by Governor Bose and her wrongful confinement by the officials there.

However, 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.”

The contractual woman has challenged the ‘blanket immunity’ given to governors under Article 361(2) of the Constitution, saying it rendered her “remediless”.

“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 Raj Bhavan – who had lodged a complaint with 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 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 Bhawan.

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 on July 17 restrained CM Mamata Banerjee from making any defamatory or incorrect statement against Governor Bose.