There is uncertainty surrounding the hearing of the plea filed by Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee in the Calcutta High Court against the Criminal Investigation Department’s (CID) decision to collect his voice sample in his ‘DJ remark’ case. Abhishek’s plea against CID’s move to collect his voice sample was not heard in the High Court on Monday. It is also unclear whether it will be heard on Tuesday.
On the orders of the lower court, Abhishek will have to appear at the Bidhannagar court on Tuesday to record his voice sample. If the case is not heard in the High Court before the scheduled time, his plea will no longer be relevant. The CID wants to have Abhishek’s voice sample tested in connection with his comments about DJs during the Assembly election campaign.
The Trinamool MP approached the High Court against this move. Last Thursday, Justice Kaushik Chanda allowed the case to be filed. The case was supposed to be heard on Monday, but Justice Chanda’s court did not sit on that day. Abhishek’s lawyers tried to ensure that the hearing was held in an alternative court.
When the case came up for hearing before Justice Tirthankar Ghosh at 5 pm on Monday, the state’s lawyer said the case documents had been provided some time ago. Therefore, let the hearing be held on another day. He would come and argue about it after learning about it. Justice Ghosh ordered the state’s lawyer to come and learn about it. Justice Ghosh said that the case would be listed again in the concerned bench on Tuesday.
Abhishek’s lawyer, Ayan Bhattacharya, said that the court should clearly inform the public about the confirmed hearing on Tuesday. If necessary, permission should be given to draw attention to it in the morning, as his client was called to collect samples that day. If he did not go, then the police could take strict action. Justice Ghosh said that the case was being listed for hearing on Tuesday, but he could not decide how the other bench would hear the case.
Abhishek is alleged to have made controversial comments during Assembly election campaigning about DJs playing after election results were declared. A case was filed against him in Bidhannagar under the cybercrime section, alleging that his DJ remark was provocative. The Bidhannagar court had ordered that Abhishek’s voice sample be collected on June 30 in the presence of a magistrate and a forensic expert.
The CID recently went to Abhishek’s Kalighat house to serve a notice in this regard. The CID approached the Bidhannagar court last week seeking to collect Abhishek’s voice sample. The judge granted that request. Against the CID’s decision, Abhishek filed a plea in the High Court.
