In what must have come as a big relief to her, the Calcutta high court on Tuesday dismissed the contempt of court case filed against West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee for her comments against judiciary.
At a seminar in the West Bengal Assembly on August 14, Ms Banerjee had voiced her anguish at what she had described as purchase of court verdicts. Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya and Rabishankar Chatterjee filed a petition in the high court requesting the court to start suo moto contempt proceedings against the chief minister.
After hearing their prayer, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Joymalya Bagchi dismissed it and declined to initiate suo moto contempt proceedings against Ms Banerjee. The court, however, voiced its disapproval of the intemperate manner in which she had spoken about the judiciary.
The division bench of Justice Mishra and Justice Bagchi told Mr Bhattacharyya that they did not agree with his submission that the chief minister’s speech at the Assembly seminar crossed the Lakshman Rekha of scandalising the judiciary.
On Monday, the court had reserved its order and observed that it was a seminar where Ms Banerjee had made these comments and that she had not mentioned any particular case or court. However, on Tuesday, the court said that it was expected that a comment coming from the chief minister should have been laced with moderation. The court said that the language of her comments were intemperate.
Expressing his views on the court order, Mr Bhattacharyya said that the court made it clear that it did not endorse the chief minister’s comments.