Kolkata, May 21 (IANS) A single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court, on Thursday, rejected the plea of Abhishek Banerjee, Trinamool Congress general secretary and Lok Sabha member, for the scrapping of the FIR filed against him last week.

However, the single-judge bench of Justice Saugata Bhattacharya granted him interim protection from any coercive police actions, including arrest, till July 31.

The single-judge bench, at the same time, also imposed some conditions for granting him protection from coercive action.

The first restriction was a ban on his foreign travel without prior permission. The court also directed Banerjee to fully cooperate with the police during the investigation. The court also advised the police to inform it in case Banerjee does not cooperate with the investigation.

The next hearing in the matter will be on July 30.

In the FIR registered against him with the Bidhannagar Cyber Crime Police Station under the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate in North 24 Parganas district on the night of May 15, he has been accused of allegedly inciting violence and threatening Union Home Minister Amit Shah before the recently concluded Assembly polls in the state.

Two non-bailable sections under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, namely Section 192 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot) and Section 196 (promotion of enmity, hatred, or disharmony between different groups based on religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste, or community), have been slapped against him in the FIR.

Banerjee approached the Calcutta High Court on May 18 seeking the scrapping of the FIR registered against him. The matter came up for hearing on Thursday, and after a detailed hearing, the single-judge bench rejected his plea to scrap the FIR but granted him interim and conditional protection till July 21.

However, Justice Bhattacharya made strong observations about comments made by Banerjee at a pre-election public rally, based on which a complaint was first filed, and subsequently an FIR was registered.

While questioning how the general secretary of a political party and three-time MP could make such an inciting statement at a public meeting and more especially in a state which has records of massive post-poll violence, Justice Bhattacharya observed that had the results of the recently concluded West Bengal Assembly polls been otherwise on May 4, there could have been a serious deterioration in law and order problems in the state.

–IANS

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