Actor gets arrest shield over PM poster
The Calcutta High Court has expressed "shock" over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "obnoxious" depiction in a poster Bengali actor Sreelekha Mitra had displayed at a students' protest rally here in July, but granted her protection from arrest in FIRs lodged over the matter.
Several people protested on the streets of Kolkata on July 24 against the alleged NEET examination paper leak, demanding the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan, a day before the Union education minister stepped down in the wake of students' stir in Delhi and other parts of the country.
Mitra had joined the demonstration in the Esplanade area of central Kolkata and posed for a photograph while holding a poster. According to a complaint lodged by the BJP, the poster displayed an offensive image of the Prime Minister.
Several complaints had also been filed against her across districts.
Hearing a petition by Mitra seeking quashing of the FIRs, Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya said, "It shocks the conscience of the court, having seen the nature of the cartoon."
Terming the poster a "distasteful presentation," he said, "This ought not to have been posted by any prudent citizen of the country."
The High Court judge sought to know from the actor's lawyer, Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, why she had displayed such an "obnoxious cartoon" of the prime minister. To this, Mitra's counsel agreed that the poster was indeed distasteful, but it does not attract any criminal provision of the law.
The court directed that all criminal prosecutions pending against Mitra as of Thursday be clubbed together and investigated by Anandapur police station in Kolkata.
"No coercive steps shall be taken against the petitioner without leave of this court, till December 24," Justice Bhattacharyya said, adding that the protection will be extended to Mitra provided she cooperates with the investigation.
The court said a 48-hour notice should be provided to Mitra to appear before the investigating officer in connection with the case and directed police to file a progress report on the next hearing date on December 14.
Moving the petition on Thursday, Mitra's counsel stated that she had participated in the NEET question paper leak protests in July and had displayed a cartoon in the poster, over which several complaints were lodged against her in police stations across West Bengal.
He argued that no offence was made out against the actor in the complaints, and sought clubbing of all the FIRs and quashing of the same.
Opposing the prayer, Additional Advocate General Rajdeep Majumdar stated the cartoon was in bad taste and that itself is an offence.
The court noted that there are 16 FIRs against Mitra in different police stations.
