Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leader Roshan Giri, who is seeking protection to participate in campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls, Tuesday told the Supreme Court that the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government is "vindictive" towards him and has implicated him in several "bogus cases".
However, the West Bengal government strongly opposed his contentions and said that Giri was an absconder and there were several incriminating materials against him which allegedly showed his complicity in various cases of heinous nature.
A bench of Justices Arun Mishra, M M Shantanagoudar and Navin Sinha said it would pass order on Wednesday on the plea filed by Giri, who is seeking the court's protection to campaign in the Lok Sabha polls.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Giri, told the bench that no coercive action has been taken against some GJM leaders, who have joined hands with the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the state, but other GJM leaders such as Giri and Bimal Gurung have been implicated in several cases.
"The democracy must be upheld. We are before the highest court of the land," Rohatgi told the court, adding that around 300 cases were lodged in the state during the later part of 2017 against the GJM leaders.
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Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the state, told the court that Giri should not be granted any protection as he is an absconder and is wanted in several cases lodged by the police.
During the hearing, the bench told Rohatgi that if the court decides to grant protection to Giri, then he must abide by the law.
"Once you get protection of law, you have to protect the law also. It cannot be a one way traffic. If later, we order that you have to surrender, then you should surrender also," the bench said.
Rohatgi said that Giri was ready to give undertaking as per directions given by the court.
The state government had earlier told the apex court that there was incriminating evidence against Giri, including his telephonic conversations with others.
Giri is one of the accused in the 2010 Madan Tamang murder case. Besides this, several other cases are pending against him.
Police have claimed that Tamang, who was the All India Gorkha League (AIGL) president, was hacked to death in Darjeeling on May 21, 2010 in broad daylight when he was overseeing preparations for a public meeting.
Giri has been charged with alleged "criminal conspiracy for murder", along with several other aides of him, in the murder case of Tamang.
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