HC stays single-bench order asking DGP to appear before court

A Calcutta High Court division bench today stayed an order passed by a single bench which asked the state DGP to appear before it and passed caustic observations against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in connection with investigation of murder of a panchayat member, in which some Trinamool Congress leaders are accused.
A division bench of Chief Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Joymalyo Bagchi stayed proceedings of the case before the court of Justice Dipankar Dutta for three weeks on an appeal by the West Bengal government.
Appearing for the state, government pleader Ashok Banerjee submitted that Justice Dutta had made the observations on the basis of newspaper reports and pictures without verifying the content.

He also stated that there was no requirement for the DGP of the state police to appear before the court as he has been submitting reports on the investigation before the court.
Counsel for Hridoy Ghosh, son of the slain Sagar Ghosh, opposed the prayers.
The bench after hearing the submissions, said that the trial court has taken judicial notice and made the observations without basis and reason for doing so was not mentioned in the order.

The division bench also called for all records in connection with the matter from the trial court.
The matter will appear before the court in the first week of May.

Justice Dutta yesterday expressed anguish over Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's sharing dais with TMC leader Anubrata Mondal, accused in the murder of Sagar Ghosh, an independent panchayat member and directed the DGP to appear before it to clarify why action was not taken against him.
Showing newspapers to the state counsel on photos of Banerjee sharing dais with Birbhum TMC district president Anubrata Mondal, Justice Dipankar Dutta asked what message was being conveyed by this?
Questioning whether Mondal enjoyed the patronage of the chief minister, Justice Dutta observed if that was so, then how would the DGP show the courage to arrest him.

Justice Dutta had on April 7 asked the DGP to act on alleged inflammatory statements made by Mondal in connection with the murder of Sagar Dutta at Parui in July 2013.
Mondal is one of the 41 persons accused in the murder case.