A Mumbai court has summoned West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, directing her to appear before it on March 2 for allegedly disrespecting the national anthem during her visit to the city in December.
Although Mamata Banerjee is a chief minister, "a sanction is not required and there is no bar to proceed against the accused" since she was not discharging her official duty, NDTV quoted the court as saying on Wednesday.
Earlier in December last year, Mumbai BJP unit leader Vivekanand Gupta approached the metropolitan magistrates' court with a complaint, accusing the West Bengal chief minister of disrespecting the national anthem. He also demanded that a first information report (FIR) be recorded against her.
It is evident from the complaint, verification statement of the complainant and video clips on YouTube that the accused sang the national anthem and stopped abruptly before leaving the dais, the court said.
By doing so, she committed an offence punishable under Section 3 of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971, the court added.
"Though the accused is 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 chief minister of West Bengal, does not come under her official duty. Therefore, a sanction is not required and there is no bar to proceed against the accused," it said.
Mamata Banerjee, also the chief of the Trinamool Congress, was on a visit to Mumbai in 2021 during which she met leaders of the ruling Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party in Maharashtra.
The complainant, Vivekananda Gupta, claimed that Mamata Banerjee violated a 2015 order of the home ministry, which states that whenever the national anthem is played or sung, the audience must stand to attention.
Mamata Banerjee was on Wednesday re-elected as the chairperson of her ruling Trinamool Congress party unopposed, 10 months after single-handedly pulling off a landslide victory in last year’s assembly election.
West Bengal witnessed the most high-profile assembly polls in 2021. While Mamata harped on being Bengal’s daughter, the BJP asked people to vote for "change and socio-economic development" after nearly 50 years of Communist and Trinamool Congress rule.
