Court closes witness cross-exam in '90 Mamata attack case

A city court on Wednesday closed cross-examination of witnesses in the case of a brutal attack on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee nearly three decades ago, on a plea by the prosecution.

Banerjee had been summoned by the 6th Additional District and Sessions Judge, Alipore Court to appear for cross-examination as a prosecution witness and evidence-in-chief.

The chief minister could not appear before the court owing to exigencies and security issues, as video-conferencing arrangements could not be made for cross-examination by the defence lawyers.

On August 16, 1990, Banerjee, then a Youth Congress leader, was hit with a blunt weapon on the head apart from blows on her body that caused grievous injuries. She had to spend several days at a government hospital for treatment.

The attack on her by Lalu Alam, brother of then CPI(M) leader Badshah Alam, and others had catapulted Banerjee to limelight as a firebrand Congress leader.

Public Prosecutor Radhakanta Mukherjee told judge Pushpal Satpathy that as 30 years have passed since the incident and the trial is yet to reach any conclusive stage, the court may take a call on its continuance.

He prayed that the court may pass an order keeping in mind the principle of natural justice.

Satpathy asked for the conclusion of witness examination in the case, and said he will pass an order on September 3.

Mukherjee also said that several key witnesses in the case have died, including former chairman of Kolkata Municipal Corporation Anil Mukherjee and three other former councillors -- Dibyendu Biswas, Dilip Majumdar and Anup Chatterjee.

He said they were the key prosecution witnesses out of a total of 60.

The main accused Lalu Alam, who is out on bail, is being tried in the case at present while 11 others are either deceased or not traceable, Mukherjee submitted in the court.

The public prosecutor told the court that the process is likely to continue for many more years, and would only lead to harassment of all involved in the matter.

Mukherjee said that Banerjee had last appeared before the court as a prosecution witness in 1994, but the defence lawyers had refused to cross-examine her then, saying they would do so along with the other witnesses in the case.

Owing to security issues, it had been decided that she will appear before the court through video-conference, he said.