High Court refuses suo motu cognisance of ‘urgent motion’ filed against Abhishek Banerjee

Kolkata: Calcutta High Court on Monday refused to take suo motu cognisance of an “urgent motion” filed by a senior advocate against Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee.

Senior advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya was asked by the Division Bench of Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya to either mention the matter before a three-judge bench hearing a suo motu contempt over derogatory posters which were plastered outside the residence of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha or file a petition.

Bhattacharya submitted that Banerjee had blamed a section of the judiciary for the deaths during panchayat polls. He was seeking an urgent hearing of the case.

After he visited the SSKM Hospital to see the injured party worker, who is undergoing treatment there, Banerjee told the media: “I have received a list of 20 accused persons. I will hand it over to the Chief Minister. The question is why people are not arresting the accused. Those who are carrying out the atrocities are in the BJP. They enjoy protection from the Calcutta High Court. I do not know why the Calcutta High Court continues to give protection to these people. Action cannot be taken against Suvendu Adhikari who has also been given protection by the court.” After his allegations on Friday, TMC clarified that neither the party nor its national general secretary have any intentions of insulting the judiciary and instead has high respect for the court.