Kolkata: A single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court, Monday, rejected the plea from Abhishek Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress general secretary and Lok Sabha member, seeking permission to travel overseas for ophthalmic treatment.
During the hearing of a case where Banerjee has been accused of making hate speeches before the recently concluded West Bengal Assembly polls, the counsel of the Diamond Harbour MP pleaded for permission for his client to travel abroad for ophthalmic treatment.
However, Justice Sougata Bhattacharya, on whose bench the matter was being heard, rejected the plea for foreign travel. Instead, Justice Bhattacharya advised Banerjee to first consult experts from the state-run S.S.K.M. Medical College & Hospital in Kolkata.
Justice Bhattacharya also observed that the court will take a further decision in the matter only after seeing the report from S.S.K.M.
When Banerjee’s counsel moved the plea for permission to travel abroad for his client for ophthalmic treatment, the first question that Justice Bhattacharya asked was whether the Diamond Harbour MP had consulted any ophthalmology specialist.
In reply, Abhishek’s counsel informed the court that his client had been undergoing ophthalmic treatment in the US for ten years.
The state government counsel and the state’s additional advocate general, Rajdeep Majumdar, vehemently opposed permission for foreign travel to Abhishek Banerjee. Majumdar argued that since several other crucial cases, including the one on hate speech, were pending, permission for his foreign travel might create complications for the process of investigation
After hearing both sides, Justice Bhattacharya said he would give directions to the head of S.S.K.M.’s ophthalmology department to form a medical board to examine the Diamond MP.
Based on the report, the court will decide the matter, Justice Bhattacharya observed. The next date of hearing in the matter of permission for his foreign travel will be in August.
Justice Bhattacharya, however, extended till October the interim protection to the Diamond Harbour MP from coercive police action, including arrest in the hate speech case, where he had been accused of making violence-inciting statements and even threatening the Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, at a campaign rally before the recently concluded West Bengal Assembly polls.
Justice Bhattacharya, at the same time, directed Banerjee to cooperate with the police in the investigation process and also directed the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to wind up the probe into the matter at the earliest.
