Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya on Saturday said the bail granted to former RG Kar Medical College and Hospital principal Sandip Ghosh did not establish his innocence, while emphasising that emotions could not guide the law.
The Supreme Court on Thursday granted bail to Ghosh in a case related to alleged financial irregularities at the hospital and manipulation of merit scores to favour undeserving candidates.
He was amid the massive protests over the rape and murder of a doctor at the hospital on August 9, 2024.
"Those associated with the 'Abhaya' movement are getting disheartened. But the law does not run on emotion. Bail is also a legal right of a person," Bhattacharya said, referring to the protests over the rape and murder of the doctor.
He said the grant of bail did not mean that Ghosh was innocent or had no connection with the alleged crime.
"It cannot be established that he is innocent or has no link with the crime just because he has got bail. In the court of public opinion, it is established that they were involved," he said.
He said that legal and technical considerations could also have played a role in the grant of bail.
The Supreme Court cited the nearly two years Ghosh had spent in custody and the slow progress of the trial while granting him relief.
Ghosh had approached the apex court after a special CBI court rejected his bail pleas and the Calcutta High Court dismissed his petition.
The Sealdah court granted him bail in the rape-murder case in December 2024 after the CBI failed to file a chargesheet within the mandatory 90-day period. However, he remained in custody in the financial irregularities case.
The Bengal government sanctioned his prosecution in the corruption case on May 18 this year.