The Calcutta High Court issued a stern reprimand to Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee on Thursday following his alleged remarks regarding the judiciary. The bench, headed by Justice Krishna Rao, questioned the MP’s comments, which were alleged to imply that certain judges were aligned with the BJP. The court directed the MP to submit a list of judges who are supposedly "with the BJP" and those who are not, as part of its inquiry into the matter.
The hearing was originally convened to address a petition filed by Banerjee, a representative from the Diamond Harbour constituency in South 24 Parganas district, challenging the West Bengal government’s decision to downgrade his security cover from Z-plus to X. The state government intervened during the proceedings, playing an audio clip from a recent media interview in which Banerjee allegedly criticized the impartiality of the judiciary. The state’s counsel argued that a people’s representative cannot make such adverse comments and urged the court to initiate suo moto proceedings for criminal contempt.
In response, Banerjee’s lawyer, Ayan Bhattacharya, contended that the interview was irrelevant to the security petition and should not influence the court's decision. He argued that the remarks were made while his client was under significant mental stress due to repeated attacks, including an alleged incident at his Kalighat residence in south Kolkata on November 7. Justice Rao, however, emphasized that elected representatives must exercise caution when commenting on the judiciary, before reserving the final verdict on the security petition.
