Post-poll violence: No 'coercive action' against Anubrata, says HC

KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Thursday granted Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Anubrata Mondal protection from 'coercive action' in connection with a post-poll violence case. Justice Rajasekhar Manth directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) not to take any strict action against him without the direction of the court. He cannot be arrested without the permission of the court. He will also have to cooperate in the investigation of the Central agency.

Mondal, TMC's Birbhum district president, was asked to appear before the CBI investigators at the NIT camp office in Durgapur in neighbouring Paschim Bardhaman district at 11 am on Thursday. The agency was expected to interrogate him in connection with a murder case at Ilambazar in Birbhum, which is allegedly related to post-poll violence. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju, appearing for the CBI, argued that if the petitioner apprehends arrest, then he should be filing an anticipatory bail application. He emphasised that a writ petition cannot be a substitute for an anticipatory bail application.

Advocate Sandipan Ganguly, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that the petitioner had been summoned to appear as a witness in a case registered by the CBI. The lawyer further submitted that Mondal was not directly named in the FIR in the case concerned.