Mamata Banerjee Delhi Police Notice: Witness in 2013 Protest Case
Police sources say the former Bengal chief minister is being called as a witness, not an accused, in a case from April 2013.
Image: Press Information Bureau / Wikimedia Commons (file photo)
Delhi Police have served a notice on former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee asking her to record a statement as a witness in a case registered 13 years ago over an April 2013 protest in the capital, police sources told PTI on Monday, 9 November. The sources said she has been called as a witness and is not an accused. ETV Bharat reported that Banerjee has told police she will travel to Delhi to give her statement.
A Witness, Not an Accused
Police have not released the notice itself, and neither report gives a date by which she must appear. According to ETV Bharat, Banerjee replied that she is a “people’s representative” and not a “VIP”. A Kolkata Police official, who was not named, told the outlet that Kolkata Police assisted their Delhi counterparts, although the case is Delhi Police’s own.
The Trinamool Congress has not issued a separate statement on the notice in the reports IPB has seen. Banerjee is among the opposition leaders IPB has covered closely this year; earlier reports are collected on the Mamata Banerjee tag page, including the I-PAC case before the Supreme Court.
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The April 2013 Protest Near Sansad Marg
The case dates to April 2013. Banerjee, then chief minister, went to Delhi with a delegation of Trinamool ministers and MPs to protest an alleged assault on the state’s then finance minister, Amit Mitra, by members of the Students’ Federation of India. The protest was held near the former Planning Commission headquarters, now NITI Aayog, on Sansad Marg. According to PTI, police stopped the delegation from moving ahead, citing security concerns and prohibitory orders, and the two sides confronted each other. ETV Bharat says the case was registered at Parliament Street police station.
No Date Yet for the Statement
What remains unclear is when Banerjee will appear and what police want to ask her about an incident from 2013. Neither Delhi Police nor the Trinamool Congress has announced a date. IPB will update this report when either side confirms one.
Source: Based on reporting by ThePrint (PTI) and ETV Bharat. No official notice or police statement has been published.
Image: Press Information Bureau / Wikimedia Commons (file photo).
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