Mamata Banerjee draws Calcutta HC’s attention to ‘vandalism’ of Martyrs’ Day stage

Kolkata: The faction in the Trinamool Congress, led by former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, on Tuesday sought the attention of a single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court about the alleged vandalism at the stage of the party’s Martyrs’ Day rally scheduled later in the day.

Earlier, the Mamata Banerjee-faction sent an email communique to the office of the Calcutta High Court’s Acting Chief Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty complaining about the vandalism on Monday night allegedly by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) activists with clandestine “assistance from the police administration”.

Later, as the Calcutta High Court opened in the morning, a petition in the matter was moved at the single-judge bench of Justice Sougata Bhattacharya. In the petition, it was alleged that the vandalism was in a way “contempt of court” since the rally was being conducted in front of the Birla Planetarium in Central Kolkata following an order from the same bench last week.

Admitting the petition, Justice Bhattacharya sought an explanation from the Kolkata Police by this afternoon, following which the matter will be heard again. Justice Bhattacharya also expressed shock over the developments and questioned how such developments were possible when the court had permitted the said rally last week in the presence of the state’s advocate general.

Justice Bhattacharya also reminded that in court the joint commissioner of Kolkata Police was asked to ensure that law and order should not be disturbed over the rally. He also observed that in the backdrop of such clear orders, the matter was an embarrassment for the court.

Earlier this morning, Mamata Banerjee herself said that her faction would move the Calcutta High Court on the alleged vandalism. “The police administration is resorting to contempt of court by trying to disrupt our rally. Do not play with the law of the land. If you continue to do that, we will file a contempt of court petition against the state government and the police administration,” the former Chief Minister said.

On Tuesday, there will be three parallel rallies on the occasion of July 21 Martyrs’ Day to honour the memory of 13 Youth Congress workers who lost their lives in police firing during a protest rally on this day in 1993, when the Left Front regime was in power, with the late Jyoti Basu serving as Chief Minister.

IANS