HC holds CPM trio guilty of contempt

Rejecting Biman Bose, Benoy Konar and S Chakraborty's plea that the media had misreported their statements, Calcutta HC hold them prima facie guilty of criminal contempt, reports Deepak Prahladka.

The Calcutta High Court on Friday issued criminal contempt rule to CPI(M) leaders Biman Bose, Benoy Konar and Shyamal Chakraborty for denigrating the judiciary for passing a ruling last year that had termed March 14 police firing in Nandigram unconstitutional and ordered a CBI probe into the deaths.

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Rejecting the three leaders’ plea that the media had misreported their statements, Chief Justice SS Nijjar and justice PC Ghose held them prima facie guilty of criminal contempt.

Justifying their venom against the judges for terming nandigram firing unconstitutional, the three leaders said in their affidavit that “on the very same issue, the eminent jurists had been deliberating upon. We had said nothing new. Having been enlighten and encouraged by their deliberation, we reasonably believed that those were reasonable. ”

Terming the three leaders’ statements contemptuous, the high court bar association had on November 27, 2007 filed a criminal contempt petition against them. The judges then directed the CPI(M) trio to file affidavits.