Calcutta High Court Judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay on Tuesday resigned from his post. According to sources, he is likely to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Earlier, Gangopadhyay had said that he is open to join BJP, Congress or CPM .
According to ABP Ananda sources, Gangopadhyay may join the BJP and contest Lok Sabha elections from Tamluk in West Bengal.
Earlier, Justice Gangopadhyay told ABP Ananda in an exclusive interview that he plans on resigning from his post as judge. Justice Gangopadhyay said that he would like to thank the ruling party Trinamool Congress (TMC) for repeatedly challenging him to enter the politics.
Justice Gangopadhyay who joined the high court in 2018, was due to retire in the next five months, in August 2024.
“No decisions regarding my candidature for Lok Sabha polls, but I would like to thank the ruling party in West Bengal for challenging me to enter the political field…,” he had told ABP Ananda last week. However, according to the newsportal he is likely to join BJP soon.
In January 2024, Justice Gangopadhyaya's got into judicial spat with a fellow judge Justice Soumen Sen of the Calcutta High Courtwhich forced the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognisance of ‘order war' between the two judges. However, this is not the first time the top court had to call a special sitting to deal with Justice Gangopadhyaya's order.
In April 2023, the Teacher's Recruitment Scam involving TMC leader and CM Mamata Banerjee nephew Abhishek Banerjee was assigned to his bench. While dealing with pleas pertaining 'School Jobs for Cash Scam,' Justice Gangopadhyay gave an interview to a local Bengali news channel on the role of Abhishek Banerjee in the scam.
Taking strong objection to his actions, the Supreme Court called a special hearing and observed that sitting judges had no business giving interviews to TV channels. The CJI lead bench then decided that the petitions will be assigned to another bench.
No strager to controversy, the outgoing judge has got into frequent tiffs with the ruling TMC several times. In November 2023, during a hearing in the teachers recruitment case, Justice Gangopadhyay remarked that he might have to ask the Election Commission to cancel the recognition of the TMC as a political party and withdraw its logo.
In 2023, In another case, Justice Gangopadhyay said a “bhaipo (nephew)” amassing wealth.
Following this remark, TMC spokesperson Kunal Gosh had asked Justice Gangopadhyay to resign and join politics. Gosh alleged that Justice Gangopadhyay was using his chair as a judicial shield and helping the opposition.