Supreme Court to examine if governors are immune from criminal cases

For the first time in 74 years, Supreme Court will test the constitutional validity of immunity from criminal proceedings accorded to the President and governors. A bench of CJI Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra entertained the plea of a former woman employee of Kolkata Raj Bhavan who said the constitutional provision (Article 361) had prevented police from probing her charge of sexual harassment against Bengal governor C V Ananda Bose.
“How can police and courts be silent on a crime committed by a governor that violated the right to dignity, self-respect and safety of an employee guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution?” asked Shyam Divan, counsel for the woman, leading the bench to look into the issue of whether immunity enjoyed by the President and governors was absolute.
Divan said instead of inquiring into the very serious “incident”, police have remained inactive because of the governor's immunity from criminal proceedings. “When a serious criminal offence is alleged, the police machinery must move with alacrity to gather evidence, which otherwise may be obliterated with passage of time and the constitutional post holder may influence witnesses,” he said.
The bench issued notice to West Bengal govt, sought assistance of attorney general R Venkataramani to adjudicate this complex constitutional question and asked Divan to make the Centre a party to the petition where the woman, has said that while she was left without remedy, the governor continued to give statements ridiculing her and trashing her allegations as politically motivated. It posted the matter for hearing after three weeks.