Calcutta HC grants interim protection to actor Parambrata

The Calcutta High Court on Friday granted interim protection to actor Parambrata Chatterjee from any coercive step by the police over an alleged social media post by him following the 2021 West Bengal Assembly polls.

A written complaint was made on May 21 at Gariahat police station here, claiming that a social media post by Chatterjee on the day of declaration of the 2021 elections amounted to instigation and encouragement of post-poll violence, allegedly committed by unknown persons in different parts of the State.

Praying that the proceedings against Chatterjee be quashed, his lawyer stated before the court that the FIR does not attribute any overt act, criminal intention, or unlawful conduct to the petitioner. He said the FIR was lodged five years after the alleged social media post by the actor, maintaining that criminal liability cannot be fastened based on speculative inferences drawn from a subjective or imaginative interpretation of words used in a communication.

Admitting the application for hearing, Justice Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee granted the actor interim protection from any coercive action by the police for four weeks.

Passing the ex-parte order, the court directed him to cooperate with the investigating agency. Justice Mukherjee clarified that the interim protection order will not prevent the investigating agency from submitting a final report, after completing the probe.