# Calcutta HC judge recuses from Sujit Bose bail plea over record access bid 2026-08-20T20:52:12+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 2 independent outlets Calcutta High Court Justice Shuvra Ghosh has recused herself from hearing the bail application of former West Bengal minister and TMC leader Sujit Bose, after alleging that one of his lawyers and her private secretary attempted to access case records from her chamber after the matter was reserved for judgment. LiveLaw and India Today both report the incident, which occurred on August 18, a day after arguments concluded. The judge, in her August 19 order, stated that the counsel and her private secretary went to the chamber, asked staff to bring out the case file, and then tried to enter the chamber. The staff refused. The judge described the conduct as smelling of an oblique motive. The Enforcement Directorate is contesting the bail plea, which is linked to the alleged school recruitment scam. Senior advocate Saybasachi Banerjee appeared for Bose, while ASG S.V. Raju and others represented the ED. Justice Ghosh has reported the matter to the Acting Chief Justice. The bail application will now be reassigned to another bench. The judge did not rule on the merits of the plea. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Both LiveLaw and India Today report the same core facts without editorial slant, making this a uniform straight-reporting story. The critical takeaway is not political but procedural: the judge's allegation of an attempt to access a reserved case file from her chamber is a rare breach of judicial protocol. The story shifts attention from Bose's bail merits to the integrity of court processes. The key development to watch is the Acting Chief Justice's decision on reassignment and any further action against the lawyer or the private secretary. The next hearing date will indicate how the court handles such an unusual incident. ## Coverage Coverage: 2 sources, 2 neutral - livelaw.in (neutral report) Straight factual account of judge's order, no added commentary. - indiatoday.in (neutral report) Wire-style reporting with identical facts, no framing bias. This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above. Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources. Last updated 2026-08-20T23:38:06+00:00. Tags: Calcutta High Court, Enforcement Directorate, Sujit Bose Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/calcutta-high-court-judge-recuses-from-sujit-bose-bail-plea/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/calcutta-high-court-judge-recuses-from-sujit-bose-bail-plea/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/