The state government on Wednesday moved an appeal before the Calcutta High Court division bench headed by Chief Justice T. S. Sivagnanam against an order by Justice Jay Sengupta five days ago that gave interim relief to BJP MLAs from any coercive action by police till January 17 in a case of alleged insult to the national anthem.
On December 7, Justice Jay Sengupta of Calcutta High Court said there was a need to “know the truth” and probe the allegations by BJP MLAs that Trinamul MLAs had used the national anthem “as a weapon” against them and extended the relief for the BJP MLAs from December 7 to January 17.
The BJP MLAs were accused of insulting the national anthem on the Assembly premises on December 2. They allegedly shouted “Chor chor (thief thief)” while Trinamul MLAs led by chief minister Mamata Banerjee were singing the national anthem.
State counsel Kishore Datta moved a petition before the division bench on Wednesday and prayed for permission to appeal Justice Sengupta’s order.
The chief justice allowed the state to move the appeal. It might come up for hearing before the division bench next week, court sources said.
On December 2, the Assembly secretary complained to Hare Street police station alleging 11 BJP MLAs had shown disrespect to the national anthem by shouting slogans while it was being sung.
Following the complaint, the detective department of Lalbazar summoned five of the MLAs whose names were mentioned in the FIR. At this, the accused BJP MLAs had moved the court of Justice Sengupta praying that the proceedings drawn against them be quashed.
Justice Sengupta issued an interim order restraining the police from taking any action against the MLAs till January 17 and expressed the need for a detailed probe.
The single bench judge had also asked the state and the police to submit video footage and other documents related to the case on the next date of the hearing.
Earlier, lawyer Rajdeep Majumdar, who appeared for the BJP, had claimed before the single judge bench that the ruling party’s members had used the national anthem as “a weapon” and started singing it to stop the slogans by the BJP members.
Majumdar had also claimed that the use of the national anthem as a political weapon should be considered illegal and criminal action should be taken against the Trinamul members for the alleged act. His submission had prompted the judge to express the need for a probe.