On CM Suvendu Adhikari's Instructions, Kolkata Police Register Suo Motu FIR Against Mamata Banerjee

Kolkata: Kolkata Police on Saturday (August 29) registered a case against former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and the organisers of a Trinamool Chhatra Parishad rally, describing it as a suo motu action taken on their own initiative.

Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari said publicly that he had instructed them to do it.

“I have told the police to register an FIR and to move the high court against her,” he said on Friday (August 28), after the rally on Cathedral Road. “The matter will not be taken so easily.”

A suo motu case is one police open without a complainant, on their own reading of what they have seen. The Hastings police station's case has no complainant. It was filed by an inspector of the station. Kolkata Police report to the state government, which Adhikari heads.

The Trinamool Chhatra Parishad held its foundation day programme at Cathedral Road on Friday, with permission from the Calcutta high court. The court set conditions. One flank of the road was to be left open and the programme was to run from noon until three.

Police say neither condition was met. Both lanes were blocked, the programme continued past the permitted hour, and traffic on Cathedral Road came to a halt. They allege that after remarks and gestures by Banerjee from the stage, supporters moved the barricades aside and scuffled with officers deployed there.

The case has been registered under Sections 61(2), 223, 125(a), 132 and 285 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), covering criminal conspiracy, disobedience of an order lawfully promulgated by a public servant, acts endangering the life or personal safety of others, use of force to deter a public servant from duty, and causing danger or obstruction on a public way. Section 132 is non bailable.

During the programme, Banerjee was heard saying from the stage, “Our people will help you. Get these cars out. Let there be no difficulty. However, many cars have come in.” She also asked why the police were not clearing the vehicles.

This is not the first time that such an issue has arisen. A month ago, the Trinamool Congress's (TMC’s) July 21 programme drew the same complaint, and that dispute reached the high court. The court warned the Kalighat faction of the TMC led by Mamata Banerjee at the time that strict action would follow if its orders were defied again.

Banerjee had not responded publicly at the time of writing. Neither had the organisers named alongside her.

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