PTI :
A Mumbai court on Wednesday summoned West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and directed her to appear before it on March 2 in a case filed alleging that she showed disrespect to the national anthem during her visit to the city, PTI reported.
The court also said though Mamata Banerjee is the CM, “a sanction is not required and there is no bar to proceed against the accused (Banerjee)” as she was not discharging her official duty — during the event in Mumbai last December.
Mumbai BJP unit activist Vivekanand Gupta approached the Mumbai Metropolitan Magistrates Court in December last year with a complaint, alleging that Mamata, who is also the chairperson of Trinamool Congress, had shown disrespect to the national anthem during her visit.
He demanded that an FIR be registered against her.
The court, according to PTI, said it is evident from video clips on YouTube that Mamata sang the national anthem and stopped abruptly and left the dais.
This proves that the accused has committed an offence punishable under Section 3 of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971, the court added, reports our New Delhi correspondent.
“Though the accused is the chief minister of West Bengal, she was not discharging her official duties (during the event in Mumbai). Thereby, this act of the accused, though she is the chief minister of West Bengal, does not come under her official duty. Therefore, sanction is not required and there is no bar to proceed against the accused,” the court said.
Mamata Banerjee had visited Mumbai last December during which she met leaders of Maharashtra state’s ruling Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party.
Gupta had claimed Banerjee violated the Union Home Ministry’s order of 2015, which states that whenever the national anthem is played or sung, the audience shall stand to attention.
