KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Friday suspended Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee for not giving his vote sample to investigators probing the election speech case, lawyers who attended the hearing said.
The single bench of Justice Saujata Bhattacharya asked Ayan Bhattacharya, the lawyer of the Lok Sabha MP, why Banerjee did not appear before a lower court and give his vote sample, even though his bench had earlier directed that the police would not take any coercive action till July 31 if Banerjee cooperated with investigators.
The court ordered Banerjee to submit an audio sample to him on July 15 after hearing his petition seeking exemption from recording it. Banerjee’s lawyer withdrew the petition after the court made several strong observations.
“There should be a limit to everything. I have already provided protection on condition of cooperation. I will withdraw the protection. I will reject it (Banerjee’s petition) at a typical cost. Will you withdraw this application or not? It is a violation of due process in court,” Justice Sujata Bhattacharya said during the hearing.
The Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate registered a first information report on May 15 against Banerjee on charges of making provocative statements in some of his election campaign speeches. The videos were widely circulated on social media. The FIR, a copy of which was seen by HT, was registered under four sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Act and two sections of the Representation of the People Act. Two of the charges are non-bailable.
The investigation was later taken over by the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which questioned Banerjee on June 16 at its headquarters in Kolkata for about 6.5 hours.
The complaint was registered at the cybercrime police station in Bidhannagar on the basis of a written complaint filed by Rajib Sarkar, a local resident, on May 5, a day after the BJP defeated the TMC in the Assembly elections. Sarkar alleged that Banerjee made objectionable statements against Union ministers and rival parties.
When Ayan Bhattacharya told the court on Friday that Banerjee did not dispute that the voice in the videos was his, the court noted that this did not mean Banerjee would not cooperate with investigators.
Banerjee’s lawyer said the protection from coercive police action, granted earlier by a bench of Justice Bhattacharya, did not prevent Banerjee from challenging the trial court’s directions to collect his voice sample.
In response, Justice Bhattacharya said: “The steps taken in relation to the investigative authority to record the audio sample fall within my jurisdiction. You are bound to cooperate with the investigation.”
The judge said: “We were granted protection on the condition that we adhere to the investigating body. This is a trick to frustrate the investigation after obtaining an order from us.”
The issue of eggs being thrown at Trinamool Congress leaders by unruly mobs since the election results were announced on May 4 was also raised during the hearing.
Ayan Bhattacharya told the court that Banerjee will appear before the trial court to submit his voice sample, but he needs to be protected from eggshells.
The court ordered the state’s Additional Solicitor General, Rajdeep Majumdar, to ensure protection for Banerjee.
