Former Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leader Bimal Gurung today failed to get any relief from the Supreme Court which dismissed his plea seeking protection against coercive steps by the West Bengal Police in cases lodged against him.
The apex court said the matter cannot be said to be a case of "individual's persecution" by the state authority and it was not a "fit case" where the court may exercise its jurisdiction to transfer the cases to an independent agency for probe, as pleaded by him.
A bench comprising Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan observed that Gurung was not entitled to any relief and there was no material to substantiate that state functionaries, including the police, was "biased" against him.
Referring to the violence in Darjeeling hills in West Bengal during the agitation for separate Gorkhaland, the bench said, "the state is obliged to maintain law and order and to protect live and property of the citizens. It has to take necessary steps to contain such agitation and restore the peace."
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