Court grants stay on arrest warrant against Trinamool MP

The Barasat district court today granted a 10-day stay on an arrest warrant issued against TMC MP Prasun Banerjee by a lower court for allegedly slapping a police constable.
District Judge Amitava Chatterjee, while granting the stay on the warrant, directed that the matter would come up for hearing on July 20.
Banerjee challenged the legality of the arrest warrant issued on July 3 by Bidhannagar Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate A K Ghosh, directing the police to take him into custody and produce him before the court by July 17.
The Howrah MP's counsel, Rajdeep Banerjee, submitted that he was not an absconder and had complied with the notice for appearance sent by the police.

The hearing in the matter was concluded yesterday and the order was reserved.
Banerjee was booked under sections 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions) and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) of IPC.

The warrant was issued by the court as the Howrah MP failed to turn up before it on a number of occasions despite notice being served on him.
In January, the Bidhannagar Police had booked Banerjee for allegedly slapping an on-duty traffic constable in the Lake Town area of the city. The constable had allegedly stopped his car for taking a wrong turn on the busy Lake Town-VIP Road crossing.

Banerjee had denied that he had slapped the constable.