The West Bengal government told the Calcutta High Court’s Jalpaiguri Circuit Bench on Monday that Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leaders Bimal Gurung and Roshan Giri had left the country illegally.
The court has asked the state to submit an affidavit within two weeks stating this, and on what grounds the government was saying it. The court has also asked Gurung and Giri’s lawyers to submit an affidavit to state their position in the matter.
There are 120 cases pending against the duo, some of them non-bailable, but the government has failed to arrest them. Some consider this a political decision as Bimal Gurung and Roshan Giri’s arrests might lead to turmoil in Darjeeling and surrounding areas – something that the state government authorities would like to avoid.
However, the police authorities had, some months back, pasted copies of public notice announcing the duo as proclaimed offenders, after the Circuit Bench had asked the leaders to file affidavits to state why they were looking for anticipatory bail. Earlier this month, the Circuit Bench had rejected their bail plea. Gurung and Giri had appealed through their counsel that they should not be arrested.
They have been booked under several cases including the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, other than for murder, arson, rioting and so on. This is especially in the context of the three-month long agitation in Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts in 2017. The duo has been absconding since then.
The state’s action on Gurung and Giri are important politically as they have a support base in the region and have a bearing on the politics of Darjeeling and the people’s demand for Gorkhaland.
Two days after the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament from Darjeeling, Raju Bisht linked it with the demand for Gorkhaland. With the Centre dividing Jammu & Kashmir into two Union Territories, Bisht had said a similar move could bring about a permanent solution to the Gorkhaland issue. The Centre must either create a new Gorkhaland state or make Gorkhaland a Union territory, the BJP MP has demanded.
