The Calcutta high court on Friday sentenced the director-general of police and two other senior officials of Jalpaiguri district to six months imprisonment for criminal contempt of court.
The district magistrate and superintendent of police of Jalpaiguri are the two senior officials who faced the court's ire along with 15 others for the constitutional breakdown in the district during an agitation demanding setting up of a circuit bench of the high court there.
There was an unprecedented breakdown of constitutional machinery in the history of Indian Constitution for one month in Jalpaiguri when no court could function in the district due to an agitation demanding setting up of a circuit bench of the High Court there, a division bench comprising acting Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and Justice K K Prasad observed.
The court directed that apart from the six months' simple imprisonment, they would have to undergo another month's imprisonment if they fail to pay a fine of Rs 2000 each.
In a scathing indictment of the state police chief A B Vohra, the court observed that he had not cared to even monitor the situation in Jalpaiguri. The court said he also did not ask his officers to restore normalcy despite specific directions to that effect by the high court.
The court, however, stayed the sentence for three weeks to allow the contemnors to appeal, if they wished to, before the Supreme Court.