Former Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee on Thursday arrived at the Calcutta High Court wearing a lawyers’ gown along with TMC’s Lok Sabha MP Kalyan Banerjee and his son Shirshanya Bandopadhyay, who are also advocates. TMC leader and lawyer Baiswanor Chatterjee was with them. According to sources, Mamata Banerjee is likely to plead in a case of post-poll violence filed by Trinamool Congress.
VIDEO | : Former West Bengal CM and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee () arrives at High Court.
(Full video available on PTI Videos – )
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Earlier in April, Banerjee appeared before a Supreme Court Bench to challenge the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. She pled that the Election Commission was “targeting” Bengal ahead of the Assembly polls.
Banerjee had earlier appeared in court as a practising lawyer in at least three cases during her years with the Congress.
Banerjee in 1982. By then, she was already active in student politics and regularly campaigned for the Chhatra Parishad, the student wing of the Congress.
She joined the Youth Congress in 1983. A year later, political tensions escalated following the murder of a school headmaster in Kumarganj in Dakshin Dinajpur. As protests intensified, the Youth Congress became involved and Banerjee was assigned to help lead the agitation.
When several Youth Congress workers were detained during the protests, Banerjee stepped in as their legal representative and moved the court in Balurghat seeking bail.
Recalling the 1984 case, former Youth Congress leader Shankar Chakraborty, who later became a Cabinet minister in Banerjee’s government, told The Indian Express she had personally appeared in court after asking him to arrange a lawyer’s black gown.
He remembered being surprised when she revealed she held a law degree, before arguing the matter herself. The court eventually granted bail to the detained Youth Congress workers.
Her next major courtroom appearance came nearly 10 years later, following the July 21, 1993 protest march to Kolkata’s Writers’ Building demanding mandatory voter photo identity cards. The protest turned violent after police used tear gas and lathi charge, before opening fire, leaving 13 people dead. The Trinamool Congress now observes the date annually as Martyr’s Day.
Around 40 Youth Congress workers were later arrested in connection with the violence, with allegations that the charges were fabricated.
In July 1996, Banerjee appeared before the Chief Judicial Magistrate at Kolkata’s Bankshall Court to seek bail for the arrested Congress workers.
Former MP and lawyer Shebhashish Bhattacharya also recalled another instance from the 1990s when Banerjee argued a bail plea at an Alipore court after workers, including late leader Pankaj Banerjee, were arrested following the ransacking of Regent Park police station.
In another legal appearance in July 1997, Banerjee represented the family of Haladhar Mondol in a Chinsurah district court after his death in police firing at Guptipara.
