The Calcutta High Court today exempted the DGP of West Bengal Police from appearing before the court while expunging Justice Dipankar Dutta's comments on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mondal regarding the murder of an independent member of panchayat at Parui in Birbhum district.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice A K Mishra and Justice Joymalyo Bagchi, while passing the order, also directed that the Parui murder case be heard by Justice Dipankar Dutta, who had made the observations regarding Banerjee and Mondal, an accused in the case, over sharing of dias at a public meeting in Birbhum.
Mondal is the Birbhum district president of Trinamool Congress and one of 41 accused in the murder of Sagar Ghosh, a former Trinamool Congress member who had fought and won as an independent in the 2013 panchayat elections.
The division bench, while expunging the judicial notice taken by Justice Dutta, said that such observations cannot be made on the basis of newspaper reports.
It directed that the DGP, who had been summoned by Justice Dutta, would not be required to be present in the instant case.
The division bench had on April 11 stayed for three weeks Justice Dutta's order asking the state's police chief to appear before it and passing caustic observations against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on an appeal by the West Bengal government against the single bench order.
The state had contended that Justice Dutta had made the observations on the basis of newspaper reports and pictures without verifying the content.
It was also stated that there was no requirement for the DGP of the state police to appear before the court as he has been submitting reports on the investigation before the court.
Hridoy Ghosh, son of slain Sagar Ghosh, had moved the Supreme Court against the division bench order, but the apex court returned the matter to the high court.
Justice Dutta had expressed anguish over photos showing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee sharing a dais with TMC leader Anubrata Mondal, who is an accused in the murder of Sagar Ghosh, and had directed the director general of police to appear before it to clarify why action was not taken against him.
