Abhijit Gangopadhyay, first HC judge to join politics after resigning, leaves behind a chequered record

Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay (retired) was the 'hero' of job seekers and victims of the alleged recruitment scam. He earned the moniker of people's judge for his frequent run-ins with the Trinamool Congress government and for his scathing verdicts against it. He was also involved in an unsavoury incident with fellow judges, prompting intervention from the Supreme Court.

The unsavoury incident began with Gangopadhyay ordering a CBI probe on a writ petition last September by an MBBS aspirant who contended that students who did not belong to the Scheduled Tribes category were securing admissions in the state's medical colleges using fake certificates. However, a division bench of justices Soumen Sen and Uday Kumar stayed the verdict the same day, in an unusual turn of events. Justice Gangopadhyay, however, heard the matter and held the division bench's order 'illegal'. He accused justice Sen of misconduct and said he was 'acting on behalf of some political party in the state'. The SC intervened and transferred the case to itself.

While becoming the first sitting judge of a higher court to join a political party by resigning from active duty, Gangopadhyay has raised questions on judicial ethics and code of conduct for judges. "Who will trust his judgements now? It makes mincemeat of the code of conduct for judges," Supreme Court advocate Prashanth Bhushan posted on X.


Gangopadhyay had frequent run-ins with the government in several cases earlier too, prominent among them the teachers' recruitment case, where he ordered a CBI probe. He was known for 'judicial activism'.

Born in Kolkata in 1962, he completed his schooling and secured a law degree from Hazra Law College. He worked as an officer in the West Bengal Civil Service and was posted in North Dinajpur. He quit to start practising as an advocate in the Calcutta High Court. He was appointed additional judge of the HC in May 2018 and continued in the capacity till July 2020, when he was made a permanent judge.

Gangopadhyay has said he had 'empathy for common people' and was indebted to a Leftist lawyer, who 'honed his professional skills'. "West Bengal has become such a state where no one can secure or even retain a state government job without paying money," he had said in his verdict in the teacher's recruitment case in August 2022. Set to join BJP, he claimed his 'judgements had shown how corruption cases should be dealt with.'