The Calcutta High Court today directed West Bengal government to produce the WBHRC file containing the proceedings on professor Ambikesh Mahapatra's arrest for allegedly posting a cartoon of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee while questioning the police's urgency to arrest him.
A division bench, comprising Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice Joymalyo Bagchi, directed the state to submit the contents of proceedings of West Bengal Human Rights Commission (WBHRC) that had proposed a compensation of Rs 50,000 to Mahapatra.
The bench also questioned the police's urgency to arrest Mahapatra after having taken him in protective custody on the ground of public outrage.
Mahapatra, a professor of Jadavpur University, had posted on the Internet cartoons of Banerjee and Mukul Roy, who was at that time the trusted lieutenant of the Trinamool Congress supremo, after the rail budget in 2012.
He was arrested following this along with Subrata Sengupta, who was the president of the housing society they lived in.
Following an outrage over the arrest of Mahapatra and the human rights organisations crying foul over the violation of the rights of free speech and expression, WBHRC took up the matter suo motu and awarded a compensation of Rs 50,000 each to Mahapatra and Sengupta.
Mahapatra had moved the high court after the state government refused to honour WBHRC's recommendations.
Justice Dipankar Dutta had directed the state to pay the compensation as per WBHRC's recommendation.
The state then challenged the order before the division bench headed by the chief justice.
