Calcutta High Court on Wednesday issued an order restraining police from taking any coercive measure against former Visva-Bharati vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty in five criminal cases lodged against him during his tenure.

Justice Jay Sengupta was hearing a case moved by Chakrabarty seeking quashing of all criminal proceedings drawn up against him by the police during his tenure as the VC. Justice Sengupta said he would deliver the order in the case on January 11.

During a hearing in the case related to Chakrabarty's missive to chief minister Mamata Banerjee, the judge said: "I am finding no cognisable offence in the letter. How did the police take action against the petitioner based on this letter?"

The counsel appearing for the state government said the police had been investigating whether comments made in the letter regarding Rabindranath Tagore could trigger communal hatred.

At this, the judge asked the lawyer: "Do your police lodge cases first and then find out offences against accused (persons)?"

He then went on: "If (Rabindranath) Tagore was alive now, the police might have accused him."

Another complaint against Chakrabarty accused the former VC of forcefully preventing autorickshaws from plying on a Santiniketan road.

"Are senior members of the government administration aware of such a complaint? It is unbelievable that any person can ask the police to lodge a case against a VC on the basis of such a complaint," the judge remarked.