Mumbai’s Special Magistrate Court on Tuesday denied West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s plea seeking stay on proceedings against her in the National Anthem disrespect case.
Banerjee’s petition, filed through advocate Majeed Memon, stated that they have approached the Bombay High Court and so the proceedings should be stayed.
However, the complainant, Advocate Vivekanand Gupta, opposed the petition, claiming that Banerjee had no locus to appear before court at this time. Gupta highlighted that the court was still verifying his complaint and that the summons had yet to be issued to Banerjee.
Gupta, the secretary of the BJP’s Mumbai unit, claimed that at the end of a function attended by Banerjee on December 1, 2021, she sang the first two verses of the National Anthem while seated, then stood up and sang two more verses, then “stopped abruptly” and left.
This, according to Gupta, lead to disrespecting the National Anthem, so he had moved the court to file a complaint. Last year, the magistrate court summoned Banerjee under Section 3 of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971. The section defines the penalty for anyone who purposefully prevents the singing of the National Anthem or causes disruption to any assembly that is singing it.
However, when Banerjee challenged the summons in the Mumbai Sessions Court, the court agreed that the Magistrate was not justified in issuing process against Banerjee for the offence punishable under Section 3 of the Act. The Sessions Court had ordered the Magistrate to re-examine the case.
While the Magistrate court is still in the process of doing so, Banerjee has challenged the Sessions Court order in the High Court.
