Kolkata : A division bench of the Calcutta High Court Thursday extended, till Aug 13, the stay on a single judge’s order directing a CID probe and filing of an FIR into the rape and violence remarks by Trinamool Congress MP Tapas Paul. A bench of Justice Girish Chandra Gupta and Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty concluded hearing into the matter and said they would pass the order Aug 13.
Resuming the hearing of appeals filed by the West Bengal government and Paul challenging Monday’s order of Justice Dipankar Dutta, state government’s counsel Kalyan Banerjee said an MP could not be treated differently from an ordinary citizen by a judge.
He claimed the writ petition on which the single bench has given its order is “untenable”, and the court erred in its interpretation of section 153 A of the Indian Penal Code. Banerjee said after the petitioner Biplab Kumar Chowdhury filed the writ petition before the single bench, personnel from the Nakasipara police station in Nadia district has approached a local television channel which broadcast Paul’s speeches for the original video tape. The channel was yet to respond, he contended.
