The Calcutta High Court said on Thursday that it will hear the defamation suit filed by West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on July 10. During an administrative meeting in the state secretariat, Banerjee had on June 27 said “Women have informed me they are afraid to visit Raj Bhavan due to recent incidents reported there”.
Justice Krishna Rao told Deputy Solicitor-General Dhiraj Trivedi, who appeared for the Governor, to make media organisations referred to in the suit, parties in the case before the hearing begins.
Bose filed the suit against Banerjee on June 28, a day after she said before the media that several women had told her that they were afraid to visit the Raj Bhawan. “Women have informed me they are afraid to visit Raj Bhavan due to recent incidents reported there”, the Chief Minister had said. Bose had criticised Banerjee for her remarks, saying it was expected of public representatives not to create “erroneous and slanderous impressions”.
Banerjee’s remarks were a reference to an allegation of molestation made against Bose on May 2 by a contractual woman employee of Raj Bhavan. The Kolkata Police is probing the issue.
During Thursday’s hearing, Justice Rao, observing that the defamation suit was filed on the basis of media reports, pointed out that the publications had not been made parties in the case and adjourned the hearing till July 10.
A woman contractual employee working at the Raj Bhawan had lodged a written complaint at the local Hare Street police station on May 2, alleging that she was molested by the Governor on two separate occasions – on May 2 and March 24 – who summoned her to his chamber on the pretext of offering her a permanent job. The allegation triggered a political row and became one of the issues in the recently held Lok Sabha elections. The Governor denied the charge in a statement issued on May 2.
The battle between the Governor and Mamata Banerjee and her party still continues. On May 6, after returning from a short trip to Kerala, his home state, Bose called the allegation a political conspiracy.
The molest complaint against the Governor was lodged with the Kolkata Police on May 2, five days before the third phase of Lok Sabha polls in Bengal and hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived at Raj Bhawan to spend the night during a campaign tour.
According to Article 361 of the Constitution, no criminal proceedings can be initiated against the President and the Governor of a State as long as they are in office.
In view of this immunity granted to the Governor, Kolkata Police have not registered a case against Bose. However, the police questioned some Raj Bhawan employees and collected security camera footage. Three aides of the Governor were summoned by the police to join investigations and the trio approached the High Court for protection.