The Calcutta High Court will hear the defamation petition filed by Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday.
Justice Krishna Rao on Wednesday granted leave for the defamation plaint to be registered before his court.
He directed that Bose’s application for an interim order for a direction upon Banerjee and the other Trinamool Congress leaders not to make any further comment on the issue under contention will be taken up for hearing on Monday.
Governor Bose had filed a defamation case against Banerjee on June 28, a day after the Chief Minister claimed that women had complained to her that they were afraid to visit the Raj Bhavan.
Justice Rao also directed Bose’s lawyer to serve copies of the application to the defendants in the suit in the meantime.
During an administrative meeting in the State secretariat on June 27, Banerjee had said: “Women have informed me they are afraid to visit the Raj Bhavan due to recent incidents reported there”.
Following her remarks, the Governor had said it was expected of public representatives not to create “erroneous and slanderous impressions”.
On May 2, a contractual woman employee of Raj Bhavan had made an allegation of molestation against Bose, following which the Kolkata Police started an inquiry. The woman said that Bose molested her on April 24, 2024, and again on May 2, 2024.
Bose invoked his Constitutional immunity under Article 361 to stymie the probe by the State police.
The former Raj Bhavan staffer, who had filed a molestation complaint against Ananda Bose, moved the Supreme Court last Wednesday, questioning how constitutional immunity granted to the Governor could curb her fundamental right to life. The case is likely to come up for hearing later this week.
The woman urged the apex court to direct police to “carry out an investigation based on the sexual allegations raised by her”.
She also sought protection and security for herself and her family and compensation for loss of reputation and dignity. She questioned the manner in which Raj Bhavan branded her a “liar” and the Governor gave “his own self a clean chit”.
In her petition, the woman said she had been “rendered voiceless and shunned to a life of depravity and ridicule” and was under “extreme distress” and had “no urge to live a life with such a black mark on her character”. Arguing that while Article 361 gives a Governor immunity from criminal proceedings while discharging his duties, she questioned how could “sexual harassment and molestation form part of Governor’s duties”.
She added that in such a case she would get no remedy and the only option for her would be “to wait for the accused to demit his office”, a delay that would be difficult to explain during trial, rendering the entire procedure a mere lip service, without any justice to her.
Under Article 361 of the Constitution, no criminal proceedings can be instituted against a Governor during his/her term in office.
