Court asks TMC leader to file affidavit on Cong leader's claim

The Calcutta High Court today directed Trinamool Congress leader and lawyer Baiswanar Chattopadhyay to file an affidavit on a claim by another lawyer and Congress leader Arunabha Ghosh that the former had forced a magistrate to take cognisance of a defamation case against him.
Justice Sanjib Banerjee directed Chattopadhyay to file an affidavit within a week stating his position on the claim by Ghosh that he had, alongwith eight other lawyers, had created such a situation in Chief Judicial Magistrate Sandip Manna's court at Alipore here that he had been forced to pass summons against Ghosh on a defamation case filed by the former.

Ghosh, a former Trinamool Congress MLA who has rejoined Congress, claimed that Chattopadhyay had sought to move a defamation case against him before the CJM Alipore alleging that he had made unsavoury comments against the Speaker of West Bengal Assembly Biman Banerjee.
Ghosh stated that the CJM had through a report, a copy of which he placed before the court, told the District Judge that he had told the lawyers seeking admission of the defamation case that Chattopadhyay was not an affected person in the alleged defamation and as such he could not move the case.
It was stated by Ghosh that as per the report, a situation had been created, on September 30, wherein he had to issue summons to Ghosh in connection with the case.

Ghosh, a senior advocate, had moved the high court seeking a certified copy of the order as he claimed that he had not been able to get one from the Alipore court despite repeated efforts.
During the hearing of his plea for a certified copy, Ghosh told the court today about the alleged happenings at the CJM court, following which Justice Banerjee directed Chattopadhayay to submit the affidavit.