KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Thursday directed investigating authorities not to take coercive steps against Trinamool MP Abhishek Banerjee in three FIRs — filed at Bhowanipore, Kalitala and Bishnupur police stations — until Aug 6, when the matter will be heard next.Investigators may, however, continue the probe. Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya also directed the state to furnish Banerjee with a list of all FIRs filed against him.When additional solicitor general SV Raju and additional advocate general Bilwadal Bhattacharya maintained that the FIRs were available on the website, Justice Bhattacharyya remarked: “Petitioner has a right to get information with regard to pending cases. If it is available on the website, then what’s the harm in providing him the list. Don’t object to that at least.”Banerjee’s counsel, senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, submitted that three more FIRs had been filed during the pendency of the petition, in addition to the eight originally listed. The court said it would confine itself to the three FIRs for which details had been provided.The state argued on maintainability that eight FIRs could not be clubbed into a single petition. Sankaranarayanan countered by citing the precedent of Suvendu Adhikari, against whom petitions were filed post the 2021 assembly elections clubbing 17 FIRs in one petition and 44 in another. Justice Bhattacharyya told the ASG the objection was “a hypertechnical point.”On merits, Sankaranarayanan submitted that the first complaint — filed on May 27 by Arnab Das over a May 2 X post — came 25 days after the alleged offence with no explanation for the delay. The post, which used the phrase “Bangla birodhi Gujarati gang,” was the basis for a claim that it sought to incite hatred between communities.“Mere use of the word ‘gang’ cannot attract a criminal offence,” counsel argued, adding that seven of the FIRs had been initiated by BJP’s Abhijit (Bobby) Das, who has filed multiple complaints against Banerjee centred on a 2018 assault case, alleged illegal soil excavation and health initiative irregularities.
