Calcutta HC rejects plea against Abhishek Banerjee

In a relief to Trinamool Congress national general secretary and Diamond Harbour MP, Abhishek Banerjee, the Calcutta High Court on Monday rejected a petition seeking suo motu proceedings against Banerjee for his anti-judiciary comments that he made on Saturday, May 28.

On Monday, a Calcutta High Court advocate, Kaustav Bagchi sought the attention of the division bench of Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharya and Justice Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee seeking suo motu proceedings against Abhishek Banerjee for his comments. The petitioner pointed out that Abhishek Banerjee's comments tantamount to contempt of court and hence judicial proceedings should be initiated against him.

The matter came up for hearing on Monday afternoon, during which the division bench dismissed the petition. However, the division bench observed that there is no need for suo motu judicial proceedings on this count. According to the division bench, if the court takes cognizance of every comment by everyone it would be difficult to go ahead with a judicial functioning system.

According to the division bench, the judicial system of the country is not that fragile that such comments can hamper its sanctity and hence the comments should be ignored.

The division bench of the Calcutta High Court, however, said that it expects that elected representatives should be careful while making such public statements.

On May 28, while addressing a public rally at the industrial township of Haldia in East Midnapore district of West Bengal, Abhishek Banerjee launched a scathing attack against a section of the judiciary in the backdrop of consecutive orders of CBI probe by the Calcutta High Court that have gone against the state government.