Kolkata, July 15 (IANS) Trinamool Congress general secretary and the party’s Lok Sabha member, Abhishek Banerjee, is scheduled to appear at Bidhannagar Court in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal on Wednesday to give his voice samples in the hate speech case registered against him.
This follows an ultimatum given to him last week by a single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court.
Abhishek Banerjee, the nephew of former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, last week skipped the second consecutive notice served to him by the Bidhannagar Court to appear and submit his voice samples in front of a judicial magistrate and forensic experts. The case is about hate speech where he has been accused of making violence-inciting statements and threatening the Union Home Minister at an election campaign rally before the recently concluded Assembly polls.
Banerjee skipped the exercise despite being advised by the Calcutta High Court to cooperate with the investigation being carried out by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the West Bengal Police and appear to give his voice samples.
The Calcutta High Court’s observation in the matter was that since Abhishek was already enjoying an interim protection from coercive police action in the matter till July 31 in this case and the main condition of the interim protection was cooperation with the CID’s investigation, he should appear at the Bidhannagar Court and give his voice samples.
However, instead of adhering to the court’s advice, Abhishek’s counsel kept on approaching different benches of the Calcutta High Court with a plea for exemption from giving his voice samples.
Finally, on July 10, the Calcutta High Court’s single-judge bench of Justice Sougata Bhattacharya gave an ultimatum to the Diamond Harbour MP, asking him to appear at Bidhannagar Court and submit his voice samples, failing which the single-judge Bench would withdraw protection from coercive police action against the leader.
Justice Bhattacharyya also threatened to impose a financial penalty if the direction to appear at Bidhannagar Court by 2 p.m. on July 15 to give the voice samples is violated.
In the face of the strong stand taken by Justice Bhattacharya, Abhishek’s counsel informed the court that his client would follow directions and appear before the district court.
Abhishek’s counsel, at the same time, requested the court to issue the necessary direction so that his client does not face any physical harassment during his appearance before the district court.
On this point, Justice Bhattacharyya ruled that the police would ensure security for Abhishek when he appears at Bidhannagar Court to give his voice samples on Wednesday.
–IANS
src/dpb