Mumbai: A sessions court that last week set aside a magistrate’s order summoning West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, has said in its detailed order that the magistrate is not justified in doing so. The action was on a complaint by a BJP functionary that she had disrespected the national anthem during a public function in the city.
The court said that it seems the magistrate deviated from mandatory provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) by only relying on the complainant’s statement on affidavit and not holding an inquiry. It observed that the complainant was not present at the said event, did not have personal knowledge of it and his only source of information was news reports.
It noted that as per the complaint itself, prominent people from various backgrounds had attended the programme. In the factual scenario, Additional Sessions Judge RN Rokade said that it was mandatory on part of the magistrate to hold an inquiry as per provision of the CrPC.
The court said that an amendment had made it mandatory to postpone the summoning of the accused in such a case. Judge Rokade stated that the amendment casts an obligation on the magistrate to apply his mind carefully and to satisfy himself that the allegations in the complaint constitute the offence alleged.
The order stated that it is imperative to note that the Jammu and Kashmir HC had held in clear terms that that not standing up while the National Anthem is being sung or standing up but not singing the it along with members of the assembly engaged in such singing may amount to disrespect, but not an offence under the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act.
In his complaint, the BJP functionary, also an advocate, had complained that at the end of the event, Banerjee started singing the national anthem in a sitting position and later on, stood up, sung two verses and abruptly stopped singing it. He claimed that thus, she had shown utter disrespect to it.
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