Disrespect to national anthem case: Court dismisses complaint against Mamata Banerjee
Mumbai (PTI): A court here on Monday dismissed the complaint against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for allegedly showing disrespect to the national anthem at an event here in 2021, citing that "no offence is made out".
Vivekanand Gupta, a functionary of the Bharatiya Janata Party's Mumbai unit, had approached the magistrate court with a complaint, alleging that Banerjee did not stand when the national anthem was played at the event during her visit to Mumbai in December 2021.
Gupta had accused Banerjee of disrespecting the national anthem and demanded that an FIR be registered against her under the Prevention of Insults to the National Honour Act.
The complaint was dismissed by Metropolitan Magistrate (Mazgaon court) S B Kale. The detailed order was not available yet.
According to a lawyer, who attended the hearing on Monday, the court while dismissing the complaint said, "no offence was made out" against Banerjee.
Taking cognisance of Gupta's complaint, the magistrate court had in February 2022 issued a summons to the West Bengal chief minister.
The magistrate had at the time said that it was evident from the complaint, Gupta's verification statement, and video clips on YouTube that Banerjee had sung the national anthem and stopped abruptly and left the dais.
This prima facie proved that the accused had committed an offence punishable under the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971, it had stated.
The magistrate court had also ruled that no sanction was required to proceed against the chief minister, as she was not discharging official duty.
However, Banerjee moved a review petition before a special court against the magistrate's proceedings.
A special judge, after hearing both prosecution and defence, had in December last year set aside the summons against Banerjee and remanded the case back to the magistrate.
The judge had observed that the metropolitan magistrate "was not justified" in issuing a summons to Banerjee.
The proper course would be to remit the matter back to the metropolitan magistrate with direction to comply and adhere to the procedure mandated under the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), the special court had said.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
