Mumbai: A court here on Monday dismissed the complaint against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for allegedly showing disrespect to the national anthem at an event here in 2021, citing that “no offence is made out”.
Vivekanand Gupta, a functionary of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Mumbai unit, had approached the magistrate court with a complaint, alleging that Banerjee did not stand when the national anthem was played at the event during her visit to Mumbai in December 2021.
Gupta had accused Banerjee of disrespecting the national anthem and demanded that an FIR be registered against her under the Prevention of Insults to the National Honour Act.
The complaint was dismissed by Metropolitan Magistrate (Mazgaon court) S B Kale. The detailed order was not available yet.
According to a lawyer, who attended the hearing on Monday, the court while dismissing the complaint said, “no offence was made out” against Banerjee. Taking cognisance of Gupta’s complaint, the magistrate court had in February 2022 issued a summons to the West Bengal chief minister.
The magistrate had at the time said that it was evident from the complaint, Gupta’s verification statement, and video clips on YouTube that Banerjee had sung the national anthem and stopped abruptly and left the dais. This prima facie proved that the accused had committed an offence punishable under the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971, it had stated.
The magistrate court had also ruled that no sanction was required to proceed against the chief minister, as she was not discharging official duty.
However, Banerjee moved a review petition before a special court against the magistrate’s proceedings. A special judge, after hearing both prosecution and defence, had in December last year set aside the summons against Banerjee and remanded the case back to the magistrate.
The judge had observed that the metropolitan magistrate “was not justified” in issuing a summons to Banerjee.
The proper course would be to remit the matter back to the metropolitan magistrate with direction to comply and adhere to the procedure mandated under the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), the special court had said.
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