Ploy to frustrate probe: Court orders Abhishek Banerjee to submit voice sample
The Calcutta High Court on Friday directed Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee to appear before a judicial magistrate on July 15 at noon and give
The Calcutta High Court on Friday directed Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee to appear before a judicial magistrate on July 15 at noon and give his voice sample in a case linked to alleged intimidatory statements made during the West Bengal Assembly election campaign. The court said his revision petition against a lower court order asking him to give the sample was "dismissed as withdrawn" on a request made by his counsel. Read Full Story Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya also expressed displeasure over the delay in Banerjee giving his voice sample and warned of advancing the hearing of his plea seeking quashing of the proceedings and recalling an earlier order that had granted him protection from coercive action. The court directed the police to ensure that Banerjee is not subjected to egg-pelting or any other harassment when he appears before the jurisdictional court or before the investigating agency.
On May 21, Justice Bhattacharyya had granted Banerjee protection from coercive steps till July 31 in connection with an FIR over the MP's alleged comments at a public meeting in April during the poll campaign. Banerjee has also sought quashing of the FIR. In a separate petition, he challenged an order of the Bidhannagar sub-divisional judicial magistrate directing him to give his voice sample before a magistrate as sought by the police during the investigation. The judge said the protection granted on May 21 was subject to Banerjee cooperating with the investigation and complying with notices issued by the investigating officer. Noting that Banerjee had not complied with the Bidhannagar court's direction to give his voice sample, Justice Bhattacharyya warned that he could dismiss the MP's petition challenging that order and impose "exemplary cost". He said giving the voice sample before the magistrate came under the umbrella of the May 21 order and that the petitioner was bound to cooperate with the probe.
During the hearing, Banerjee's lawyer told the court that the MP admits it was his voice in the speech under question. He, however, argued that the TMC leader has a constitutional right to challenge a lower court order and said the trial court's direction was devoid of reason. Justice Bhattacharyya verbally observed, "It is nothing but a ploy to frustrate the investigation after obtaining an order from the High Court." The lawyer then said Banerjee was willing to give his voice sample on Saturday itself and sought a direction for protection from egg-pelting. When the court said it was the duty of law enforcers to prevent any such incident, Additional Advocate General Rajdeep Majumdar assured the court that there would be no such incident. Justice Bhattacharyya also said it pained him that after his May 21 order, the connected revisional application challenging the voice sample order was moved before a different bench.
The BriefWire