SC To Hear Moitra’s Circuit House Eviction Plea

The Supreme Court will on Thursday hear TMC MP Mahua Moitra’s plea alleging that district administration officials in Nadia, West Bengal, evicted her from a circuit house despite having allotted her a room at the state-owned property.

On Wednesday, her lawyer requested a three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana to take up the matter later in the day, as arguing counsel Gopal Sankaranarayanan was occupied in another court.

The bench instead said the case would be listed on Thursday.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta objected to Ms Moitra approaching the Supreme Court directly.

“Individual issues of MPs directly being agitated before the Supreme Court? Factually also, there are inaccurate statements,” he said.

Moitra’s lawyer sought an early hearing, saying: “The matter requires an independent investigation. This has happened despite the high court already having passed a protective order. I am only praying for listing on an early date because this involves an important constitutional issue.”

The incident occurred late at night in August in Krishnanagar, her constituency.

In a social media post on the night of August 14, Moitra claimed that a large crowd had gathered outside the circuit house and shouted “Jai Shri Ram” slogans after she refused to leave.

She also wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, seeking his intervention over the district administration’s alleged attempt to force her to vacate the premises after initially allotting her a room.

Moitra, who had moved into the circuit house for an overnight stay following a Parliament session, asserted that she was entitled to stay there as an MP. She alleged that district authorities pressured her to leave in the middle of the night with the intention of harassing her.