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Calcutta HC orders stay on case against lawyer accused of insulting Bengal CM
The Calcutta high court also took into consideration Koustav Bagchi’s recent appeal to the state police for security and ordered the state to set up a five-man police picket outside his home and deploy an armed policeman to accompany him wherever he goes
The Calcutta high court on Wednesday ordered an interim stay on all criminal proceedings by the Kolkata police against lawyer and state Congress spokesperson Koustav Bagchi who was arrested on March 4 on charges of making derogatory remarks against chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
The court also took into consideration Bagchi’s recent appeal to the state police for security and ordered the state to set up a five-man police picket outside his home and deploy an armed policeman to accompany him wherever he goes.
Bagchi was arrested under sections 120b (criminal conspiracy), 153 (provocation to cause riot), 354a (sexual harassment), 504 (intentional insult), 505 (statements causing public mischief), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 509 (insulting the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
He was granted bail by Kolkata’s Bankshall court within hours of the mid-night raid at his residence in the Barrackpore area of North 24 Parganas district by officers from Kolkata’s Burtolla police station.
The Burtolla police station cited a March 3 press conference where Bagchi read out excerpts from a book by Dipak Ghosh, a former bureaucrat. Ghosh, who was once a trusted aide of Mamata Banerjee, wrote about certain aspects of her personal life. The book has not been banned and its soft copies are available online. The police complaint was registered by a Trinamool Congress (TMC) supporter.
Justice Rajasekhar Mantha of the Calcutta high court passed the interim stay order on Wednesday and sought a report from the Kolkata police commissioner.
After the hearing, Bagchi said: “The court ordered an interim stay on all criminal proceedings. It said no coercive action can be taken against me without the court’s consent. I am happy. I am confident that the proceedings against me will be ultimately quashed during future hearings.”
In his petition filed before the high court, Bagchi not only challenged the criminal charges but also questioned the manner in which the police came to his home at midnight without serving any notice.
Justice Mantha also took into consideration Bagchi’s recent appeal to the state police for security.
Bagchi said: “The court ordered the state to set up a five-man police picket outside my home and deploy an armed policeman to accompany me wherever I go. The court also made the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) a party in this case and wanted to know if it can provide the security cover. The CRPF has been asked to appear in court on Monday.”
Bagchi was arrested two days after the TMC lost the Sagardighi assembly by-election in Murshidabad district. The Left-backed Congress candidate won the seat which had been represented by the TMC for 13 years.
The chief minister targeted Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the state Congress president, hours after the poll results were announced.
“Will he (Chowdhury) be able to answer, if I ask about his daughter’s suicide or his driver’s murder? I know many things. Don’t force me to open my mouth,” Banerjee told media persons at the state secretariat.
Although Chowdhury did not respond to the chief minister’s remarks, Bagchi countered her at the March 3 press conference and referred to Dipak Ghosh’s book.
Chowdhury welcomed Wednesday’s court order.
“Koustav’s arrest shows how TMC is using the police to carry out political vendetta. Only the judiciary can save citizens from autocratic rulers,” he said.
TMC Rajya Sabha member Shantanu Sen maintained that the administration did nothing wrong by arresting Bagchi.
“I do not want to comment on the court order but this is not the first time this judge has offered immunity from arrest to a person,” Sen said, referring to the order justice Mantha passed on December 8 last year on a petition filed by leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari.
The December 8 order imposed stay on police proceedings in all cases filed against Adhikari since 2020. The order also said no fresh first information report (FIR) can be lodged against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader without the court’s permission.
Adhikari’s said in his petition that 26 FIRs were filed against him on frivolous charges to cause harassment. He appealed that either the cases be quashed or allowed to be probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
