Critical Analysis of State of West Bengal V. Anwar Ali
INTRODUCTION
The case being dealt with in this paper is State of West Bengal v. Anwar Ali Sarkar. This case deals mainly with the applicability of Article 14 of the Constitution of India on the West Bengal Special Courts Act, 1950 and the Court was to decide on whether the Act was unconstitutional or valid. I am going to analyze the judgment given by the Supreme Court in this regard.
STATEMENT OF FACTS
The respondent and 49 other persons were charged with various offences alleged to have been committed by them in the course of their raid as an armed gang on a certain factory known as the Jessop Factory at Dum Dum, Calcutta and they were convicted and sentenced to varying terms of imprisonment by the Special Court to which the case was sent for trial by the Governor of West Bengal by a notification dated 26th January, 1950, in exercise of the powers conferred by section 5 (1) of the Act. Thereupon the respondent applied to the High Court under article 226 of the Constitution for the issue of a writ of certiorari quashing the conviction and sentence on the ground that the Special Court had no jurisdiction to try the case inasmuch as section 5 (1), under which it was sent to that Court for trial, was unconstitutional and void under article 13(2) as it denied to the respondent the equal protection of the laws enjoined by article 14.
Under the West Bengal Special Courts Act, 1950:
Section 3 of the Act empowers the State Government, by a Notification in the official gazette to constitute special courts of criminal jurisdiction for such areas and to sit at such places as may be specified in the notification and more than one Special Court may be constituted for the same area or to sit at the same place. Section 4 empowers the State Government to appoint special judges to preside over such Special Courts and the classifications for such appointments are set out in the section.
Following this appears Section 5 which is the section which has been mainly the subject-matter
The case being dealt with in this paper is State of West Bengal v. Anwar Ali Sarkar. This case deals mainly with the applicability of Article 14 of the Constitution of India on the West Bengal Special Courts Act, 1950 and the Court was to decide on whether the Act was unconstitutional or valid. I am going to analyze the judgment given by the Supreme Court in this regard.
STATEMENT OF FACTS
The respondent and 49 other persons were charged with various offences alleged to have been committed by them in the course of their raid as an armed gang on a certain factory known as the Jessop Factory at Dum Dum, Calcutta and they were convicted and sentenced to varying terms of imprisonment by the Special Court to which the case was sent for trial by the Governor of West Bengal by a notification dated 26th January, 1950, in exercise of the powers conferred by section 5 (1) of the Act. Thereupon the respondent applied to the High Court under article 226 of the Constitution for the issue of a writ of certiorari quashing the conviction and sentence on the ground that the Special Court had no jurisdiction to try the case inasmuch as section 5 (1), under which it was sent to that Court for trial, was unconstitutional and void under article 13(2) as it denied to the respondent the equal protection of the laws enjoined by article 14.
Under the West Bengal Special Courts Act, 1950:
Section 3 of the Act empowers the State Government, by a Notification in the official gazette to constitute special courts of criminal jurisdiction for such areas and to sit at such places as may be specified in the notification and more than one Special Court may be constituted for the same area or to sit at the same place. Section 4 empowers the State Government to appoint special judges to preside over such Special Courts and the classifications for such appointments are set out in the section.
Following this appears Section 5 which is the section which has been mainly the subject-matter