Kolkata, July 4, 2024
Hearing on the defamation suit filed by West Bengal Governor, CV Ananda Bose, against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was adjourned again, and the court on Thursday fixed July 10 as the next date of hearing.
Incidentally, bypolls for four Assembly constituencies in the state will also be conducted on July 10.
This is the second time that the hearing on the matter has been adjourned.
On Wednesday, when the matter came up for hearing for the first time at the single-Judge Bench of Justice Krishna Rao, the matter was adjourned till Thursday.
Justice Krishna Rao directed that the media houses on whose reports the Governor’s defamation suit against the Chief Minister was based, should also be included as parties in the case.
On Thursday, when the matter again came up for hearing, the counsel for Governor Bose, Dhiraji Trivedi drew the attention of the court that the hearing had not been enlisted as yet in the records of the Calcutta High Court.
Thereafter, Justice Rao adjourned the proceedings and fixed June 10 as the next date of hearing.
Besides the Chief Minister, Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh and the two newly-elected ruling party legislators Sayantika Banerjee and Reyat Sarkar have also been named in the suit.
Raj Bhavan sources said that Ghosh had been included as a party in view of some of his comments about the Governor made to a particular media house.
Similarly, sources said, the names of the two newly-elected MLAs have been included in view of the comments made by them about the Governor to media persons over their swearing-in function.
The defamation suit has been filed over some comments made by the Chief Minister recently while expressing displeasure over the confusion regarding the oath-taking ceremony of the two new MLAs.
She had backed their decision of not accepting the Governor’s invitation to go to Raj Bhavan for the oath ceremony.
“Why will the two newly-elected MLAs go to the Raj Bhavan? As it is, after what has happened at Raj Bhavan, women are scared to go there. I have received complaints,” the Chief Minister had said.(Agency)
