The Calcutta High Court has directed the transfer of a complaint case involving Member of Parliament Mahua Moitra from the 3rd Judicial Magistrate at Krishnagar to the designated Special Court for cases concerning MPs and MLAs at Bidhanagar, North 24-Parganas.
A Division Bench of Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Aryak Dutt passed the order on September 7, 2026, in CRR 3604 of 2026.
Moitra had approached the High Court challenging the cognizance taken in Complaint Case No. 309 of 2026, pending before the 3rd Judicial Magistrate, Krishnagar, Nadia.
During the hearing, several issues were raised, including a question concerning the jurisdiction of the Division Bench to hear the criminal revision. The High Court, however, said it was not necessary to enter into that wider debate.
Instead, the Bench focused on the fact that the complaint concerned a sitting Member of Parliament and that the case was pending before a court that was not the designated court for proceedings involving MPs and MLAs.
The Bench referred to the Supreme Court's decision in Ashim Kumar Upadhyay v. Union of India & Anr., along with subsequent and previous pronouncements, noting the Supreme Court's emphasis that proceedings involving Members of Parliament and State Legislatures should be handled by specified courts as expeditiously as possible.
The High Court observed:
"Such Court is not the designated Court for the purpose of trying an offence against a Member of Parliament and Member of State Legislature."
The Bench therefore found it appropriate to move the complaint proceedings to the Special Court dealing with MP/MLA cases at Bidhanagar.
The Court directed the District Judge, Nadia, to send the records of Complaint Case No. 309 of 2026 to the District Judge, North 24-Parganas. The records are then to be transferred to the appropriate Special Court at Bidhanagar.
Importantly, the Special Court has been asked to treat the matter as being at the pre-cognizance stage, meaning it must proceed afresh in accordance with law before taking cognizance.
As a consequence, the High Court set aside the earlier order by which the Judicial Magistrate had taken cognizance, along with the subsequent orders passed on that basis.
The criminal revision, CRR 3604 of 2026, was accordingly disposed of.
