Calcutta HC grants TMC's Abhishek Banerjee protection from coercive action over his rally remarks

The Calcutta High Court on Thursday granted senior TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee protection from coercive action till July 31 in an FIR over his comments at a public meeting last month, and asked if it was appropriate for a parliamentarian to make unwarranted statements.

Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya directed Banerjee, the TMC's national general secretary, to cooperate with the probe and comply with notices by the investigating officer to the petitioner, if issued, for his appearance.

The court also directed him not to travel abroad without the leave of the court.

Justice Bhattacharyya directed that in the event the petitioner does not cooperate with the investigating agency, then the agency will have the liberty to approach this court.

The court directed that Banerjee will be given notice for appearance with a 48-hour prior time period.

The MP from Diamond Harbour moved the high court seeking the quashing of the FIR over his comments against the leaders and workers of a rival party at a public meeting on April 27 in the run-up to the second phase of West Bengal assembly polls.

Asking why Banerjee made ''irresponsible statements,'' Justice Bhattacharyya wondered what would have happened if the TMC won the election. ''This state has a very dark history of post-poll violence,'' he observed.

Stating that the comments of Banerjee were shown in news channels and published in newspapers, the judge further asked whether his comments at the public meeting matched the position of an all-India general secretary of the Trinamool Congress and a Lok Sabha MP.

His lawyer, Kalyan Banerjee, who is also a TMC Lok Sabha MP, answered, ''May not be; but the question is whether the speech had any effect or not.''.

Granting him protection from coercive action till July 31, the court said it will hear the matter again on July 20.

Appearing for the West Bengal government, Additional Advocate General Rajdeep Majumder opposed Banerjee's plea but submitted that the investigation will follow the due process of the law.

The complainant claimed that Banerjee issued an open challenge during a public meeting at Arambag on April 27 and also on March 25 at Nandigram, making provocative statements which would harm public harmony.

The court noted that the FIR against Banerjee was filed under sections 192 (wantonly giving provocation to cause riot), 196 (promoting enmity between different groups) and 353(1)C (statements conducing to public mischief with intent to incite a class of persons to commit offence against another class) by the Bidhananagar cyber crime police station.

The complaint was lodged on May 5 after the declaration of the assembly poll results.

On a query by the court, Majumder said that all the offences, if proved, carry a punishment of less than seven years.

Justice Bhattacharyya said that after hearing all the parties in the matter, the court finds that custodial interrogation of the petitioner is not required.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)