Calcutta High Court takes serious exception to Mamata Banerjee’s dharna – Economic Times

The Calcutta High Court, while taking serious exception to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s sit-in dharna on Monday against the arrest of four TMC leaders and ministers in connection with the Narada case, called the incident “an extra-ordinary situation”.

The High Court had, in its verdict, said, “The court has been called upon to deal with an extra-ordinary situation where the chief minister of the state can sit on a dharna outside the office of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) along with her supporters, which had investigated the case and was to present a charge sheet in court against the accused who are senior party leaders of the party in power in the state, some of them being ministers.”

However, it must be mentioned that Banerjee had sat inside the CBI office at Nizam Palace for six hours protesting against the arrest of her leaders and not outside with her supporters on the road.

The court, while taking serious objection to the huge assembly of supporters, observed that, “the law minister of the state was present in court where the accused were to be presented along with a mob of 2,000 to 3,000 supporters.”

Bail Plea Hearing

Meanwhile, the Calcutta High Court will hear the appeal filed by TMC ministers Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee, MLA Madan Mitra and former TMC minister Sovan Chatterjee on Wednesday to vacate the stay order on their bail. A division bench comprising Chief Justice (acting) Rajesh Bindal and Arijit Bhattacharya, which sat on Monday night, stayed the bail granted to them by a lower court in the Narada scam.

TMC moved the court on Tuesday to vacate the stay on the bail. Sovon Chatterjee has also separately appealed before the Calcutta High Court to vacate the stay. The appeals were accepted and will be heard on Wednesday (May 19), the day when CBI’s case will be heard. Sources told ET that renowned advocate and Congress leader Abhisekh Manu Singhvi is likely to fight the case on behalf of Trinamool leaders on Wednesday.

Advocate Anindya Kishore Raut, who is currently fighting the case for the TMC leaders said, “The appeal will be heard on Wednesday. However, it (plea) has been accepted on Tuesday. We will do our best to fight the legal battle.”

The CBI is trying to shift the Narada case outside West Bengal to Bhubaneswar, keeping in view Monday’s political violence and the necessity for fair interrogation.