Kolkata, March 1 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Akash Banerjee and three others, arrested for assaulting a traffic police officer, were Thursday sent to a day’s judicial custody by a court which rejected their bail pleas.
They had been booked and arrested Wednesday.
Akash and three of his associates, arrested under orders from the chief minister, were presented before Second Chief Judicial Magistrate, Alipore Court (South24 Parganas), Suparna Roy who turned down their bail pleas and ordered a one-day judicial remand.
Opposing the bail pleas, the prosecution prayed for judicial custody of the accused.
Counsel for the accused said that it was an incident of traffic violation and they had not assaulted any policeman.
After hearing both the sides, the judge directed the prosecution to present the case diary.
The accused would again be presented Friday, the next date of hearing.
The four were booked under the Indian Penal Code’s (IPC) non-bailable offence Section 353 (assault to deter a public servant from discharge of his duty), besides bailable offence sections of 341 (restraining a person wrongfully) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt).
They also face charges under clauses of the Motor Vehicles Act for allegedly assaulting officer-in-charge of Vidyasagar traffic guard, Subir Ghosh, and a police vehicle driver.
The trouble allegedly broke out after the policemen pulled up the accused for obstructing traffic by violating a traffic signal.
Ghosh handed over Akash to the Watgunge police station after the incident. Akash allegedly revealed his identity to the policemen there and all the four were let off.
However, the electronic media picked up the story and started airing it prominently, following which all the four were arrested.
Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim claimed Wednesday that the chief minister learnt about the incident from a passerby and immediately ordered that her nephew be arrested. “It is not correct to say her hand was forced by the media.”
Commenting on the incident, the chief minister said: “I don’t have a family of my own. I consider the masses as my family. If anybody commits a crime, he has to bear punishment.”
Governor M.K. Narayanan disapproved of Akash’s behaviour, saying he should not have hit the policeman.
“Such incidents of assault on policemen on duty are not new. I think this is a problem for the police. But Akash should not have hit a policeman in uniform,” he said on the sidelines of a programme here.
