Kolkata 15 August : A rash statement made by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee indirectly urging Trinamool Congress activists to hit the streets in case central agency sleuths are at her doorsteps has sparked important debates in the legal and political circles in the state. On Sunday night, at an event for the public in the south of Kolkata the Chief Minister asked, “Are you all scared? What do you do in the event that they arrive at my home tomorrow? Will you not go to the streets? Do you not want to fight the battle for democracy?”
The parties that oppose the state in the state have stated that the chief minister’s remarks as a sign of the fear that the tentacles of the investigation by the central authorities in different corruption cases could be able to reach the family members of her.
State BJP spokesperson in West Bengal, Samik Bhattacharya asked the reason why the chief minister was encouraging her party’s workers to join her prior to the central agencies having not provided any indication that anything similar to reaching the doorsteps of the chief minister may occur.”Is this an indirect acknowledgement of the involvement in corruption? Are you able to apprehend possible Central agency action in the next few days,” he said.
The CPI-M central committee member Robin Deb said that the fear is evident in the body language and the statements of the chief minister.”Otherwise, she would have declared that she would let the agencies do their job,” he said.
The legal brains in the state are split on whether the remarks of the chief minister were a covert crime that encouraged her supporters to stop public servants from carrying out their tasks.
According to the senior counsel of the Calcutta High Court and the CPI-M Rajya-Sabha member Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya the chief minister has acknowledged that she is directly involved with the corruption.”At the same that, she has committed a criminal offense by inciting her party’s insignificant workers to go on the streets if CBI investigators show up at her door.This is what happens when lawbreakers take over the fore,” Bhattacharya said.
However, the senior counsel of the Calcutta High Court, Kaushik Gupta, is not entirely in agreement with the opinion of Bhattacharya.”I don’t believe that the comments of the chief minister constitute a criminal offense.She made an assertion based on an imagined scenario in which central agency activities on her doorsteps could occur.There are rules in the Indian Penal Code for punishment for dissuading public servants from carrying out their duties.
The chief minister’s remarks could have been considered criminal if she made the comment prior to or after the agency’s decision was in place.But at present her remarks cannot be considered to be a crime,” he said.
src/dpb
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