High Court expresses anguish over Mamata Banerjee sharing dais with murder accused, summons DGP

The Calcutta High Court today expressed anguish over West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's sharing dais with a Trinamool Congress leader accused in a murder case and directed the DGP to appear before it to clarify why action was not taken against him so far.

Showing today's newspapers to the state counsel on photos of Banerjee sharing dais with Birbhum TMC district president Anubrata Mondal, Justice Dipankar Dutta asked what message was going by this?

Justice Dutta observed that both the judge and the chief minister were constitutional authorities and there should be mutual respect.

Questioning whether Mondal enjoyed the patronage of the chief minister, Justice Dutta observed if that was so, then how would the DGP show the courage to arrest him.

Asking whether the DGP was trying to test the court's patience, a visibly annoyed Justice Dutta said enough is enough.

Justice Dutta had on April 7 asked the DGP to act on alleged inflammatory statements made by Mondal in connection with the murder of Sagar Dutta, an independent panchayat member at Parui in July 2013.