NEW DELHI: Former Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee faced heavy sloganeering at the Calcutta high court on Thursday when she appeared as counsel in a public interest litigation (PIL) concerning alleged post-poll violence following the recently concluded Assembly elections in the state.
Dressed in a traditional black advocate's jacket and white collar-band over her signature white saree with blue borders, Banerjee appeared before the division bench of Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Partha Sarathi Sen to argue the matter.
The PIL was filed by Sirsanya Banerjee, a counsel at the high court and son of senior advocate and four-time Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee. Sirsanya Banerjee had contested the recent Assembly polls from Uttarpara in Hooghly district on a Trinamool Congress ticket but lost to BJP candidate and former NSG commandant Dipanjan Chakraborty by over 10,000 votes.
As Banerjee made her way through the court premises in lawyers' robes, slogans were raised against her amid heightened political tensions after the Assembly election results, in which the Trinamool Congress lost power to the Bharatiya Janata Party.
During the hearing, Banerjee reportedly presented photographs before the bench and alleged that 'even children and women are not spared'. She also handed over a list of ten persons who were allegedly murdered in post-poll violence. 'My humble submission is to please protect the people of Bengal. This is not a bulldozer state,' she stated before the court.
She further alleged that houses and offices were being captured and looted in front of the police and claimed that authorities had failed to intervene. 'Everything is being done in the presence of the police,' she said, adding that people were entitled to be heard 'even if you are demolishing an unauthorised structure'.
'After something has happened, they will not investigate? There is no police,' Banerjee argued, while urging law enforcement agencies to step up action against those involved in violence.
Reacting to her court appearance, the Trinamool Congress said in a post on X that Banerjee had 'once again shown what truly sets her apart'. 'She never abandons the people of Bengal in their hour of need. She never stops fighting for truth, justice, and constitutional values. And time and again, she rises above the politics of hatred with unmatched compassion, courage and conviction,' the party said.
The party further added: 'Whether confronting the injustice of SIR or standing firm against the unruly conduct of BJP, she continues to prove that there is truly no leader like her in the country today.'
Earlier this year, Banerjee had also appeared in the Supreme Court during a hearing related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) case in West Bengal, where she briefly addressed the bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, though she had not appeared as counsel in that matter.
In the recently concluded Assembly polls, Banerjee was defeated by current Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari from the Bhabanipur Assembly constituency by a margin of over 15,000 votes. Following the defeat, Governor R. N. Ravi dissolved the previous Assembly, which also brought an end to the cabinet headed by Banerjee.
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