Jadavpur University professor Ambikesh Mahapatra, who was mentioned as “absconding” in a chargesheet that police filed in the Alipore Criminal Court in March 2018, surrendered before the court on Wednesday and secured bail.
Mahapatra, who had earlier told The Telegraph that it was unclear to him how the police could describe someone who was taking classes and frequently attending television debates as an “absconder”, surrendered before the additional chief judicial magistrate around 10.30am.
The magistrate granted him bail as Sushil Chakraborty, the lawyer who represented Mahapatra, told the court that his client has conducted classes in the chemistry department of JU in March 2018, when the police mentioned in their chargesheet that the professor and seven others “are still absconding to avoid arrest" in an assault case.
“Before I could finish, the magistrate granted bail,” said Chakraborty.
An officer of Kolkata police’s southwest division had said on Saturday: “The word ‘absconding’ does not always mean that he could not be captured or arrested and that he was not found at home. It is a technical term which can be used for accused persons who have not been arrested but have been charge-sheeted, leaving it to the court to take action.”
He said on Wednesday: “The next stage is the framing of charges by the court. This should be followed by a trial."
The court issued an arrest warrant against Mahapatra in January 2019 because he was described as an absconder.
“The bail petition was not challenged by the lawyer representing the state government,” said Mahapatra.
Mahapatra said securing bail was a must for him so he could move a petition to get a no-objection certificate for the renewal of his passport.
His lawyer said they would first collect a certified copy of Wednesday’s order and then move a petition before the court to secure an NOC.
“If the NOC is granted by the court, a copy of it and the certified copy of the bail order will be sent to the regional passport office, which earlier could not process Mahapatra’s passport renewal application because of an adverse report from the police,” said Chakraborty.
“My client wants to visit his two daughters who are studying abroad,” he said.
The adverse report pertained to a case of assault and snatching of Rs 5,000, filed at Haridevpur police station in April 2016. Mahapatra then was an Independent candidate in the Assembly elections contesting from Behala East.
Justice Asok Kumar Ganguly, a retired judge of the Supreme Court and former chairman of the West Bengal Human Rights Commission, said: “This is not acting in a fair and impartial way. To call a person who is a public figure, attending discussions and debates on TV channels, an absconder is an abuse of the legal process. I do not know the merits of the case, but calling a person absconder is not certainly in accordance with the law."
“There are several procedures (required to be followed before declaring a person absconder). I don’t know whether those procedures were followed.”
Two killed on Kidderpore Road
Two persons on a motorcycle died after a truck hit the vehicle on Kidderpore Road in southwest Kolkata on Tuesday night.
Suvendu Das, 48, a resident of Belgachia Road and Subrata Roy, 49, from Birati, were taken to SSKM Hospital where they were declared dead.
Police have arrested the driver and seized the truck.
Four held in Kasba
Four persons were arrested on Tuesday from an office in Kasba in south Kolkata for impersonating employees of an online shopping portal and allegedly cheating people, police said.