Kolkata, Feb 29 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Akash Banerjee and three others were arrested Wednesday for allegedly assaulting a traffic police officer and causing obstruction to traffic, senior government and police officials said.
State Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim, who earlier called it a “minor incident”, said the chief minister, who left for Darjeeling during the day, ordered Akash’s arrest when she heard of the incident.
“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,” Banerjee said.
Akash and the other three have been booked under non-bailable Section 353 (assault to deter a public servant from discharge of his duty), which carries a prison term of maximum two years, besides bailable sections of 341( restraining a person wrongfully) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), besides some clauses of the Motor Vehicles Act.
The accused have been kept in the lock-up of Watgunge police station, and would be presented in court Thursday.
Giving details of the incident, the victim – Officer-in-charge of the Vidyasagar traffic guard – Subir Ghosh said around 11 a.m. Banerjee’s car overtook his vehicle and stopped in a way that traffic movement from the opposite flank was stalled.
“When my driver went to the car with a request that it be parked properly, Banerjee came down, pushed the driver and started abusing him and the police in filthy language. When I went up to Banerjee, he started shouting and tried to shove me away.”
“Then I informed the officer-in-charge of Watgunge police station and Banerjee was taken away to the police station,” Ghosh said.
At the police station, Banerjee was let off after he revealed his identity, said a police source.
However, the electronic media picked up the story and started airing it prominently, following which all four were arrested.
But Hakim claimed the chief minister learnt about the incident from a passerby and immediately ordered that he be arrested. “It is not correct to say her hand was forced by the media.”
Though Hakim said the four men were arrested only one and half hours after the incident, there were allegations that police took four hours to take Banerjee into custody.
On why they were let off initially at the police station before they were finally arrested, Special Commissioner of Police Sivaji Ghosh said a complaint has been received. “We are making an enquiry. I have been asked to probe this angle.”
Hakim alleged that the media was highlighting the “small incident” in a big way to mislead the people.
“There was scuffle which led to shoving and pushing with the police,” he said.
“At the time of incident, there was huge traffic jam and Madhymik examination was scheduled today. To avoid the jam, police let them go after registering the number of the car.”
Hakim said the chief minister has followed the principle of ‘Raj dharma’ (state’s duty) in ordering the arrest of her nephew.
“This is a rare case where arrests have been made in such a case. Lot of such incidents happen around the country everyday,” he said.
Expressing dismay over the incident, Sahitya Akademi president Sunil Gangopadhyay said: “If one of her family members behaves in this way, this is embarrassing for the chief minister. These sort of things were unheard of in our state in the past. It is a matter of concern”.
