Government lawyer stays mum, Prasun gets bail

KOLKATA: Days after a Barasat court issued a stay order on the arrest of Prasun Banerjee, the Bidhannagar court on Thursday granted bail to the footballer-turned-Trinamool MP as the public prosecutor did not oppose the bail plea. Additional chief judicial magistrate (ACJM) of Bidhannagar court Apurba Kumar Ghosh granted bail within five minutes for a surety of Rs 2,000 after Banerjee, who was booked for allegedly slapping a constable, surrendered before the ACJM court on Thursday afternoon. The public prosecutor apparently told the court that he "had no objection if Banerjee was granted bail". The Howrah MP's counsel, Rajdeep Majumdar, on Thursday appealed for Banerjee's bail in the Bidhannagar court, claiming he appeared before the police twice. "Under 41-A of CrPC, Banerjee appeared before cops twice and the investigating officer mentioned it in chargesheet filed in the Bidhannagar court. As he already surrendered before court on Thursday, during the stay order of his arrest, he should be granted bail," Majumdat said. The PP, Sabir Ali, also said he had no objection to the bail. After being granted bail, Banerjee said, "I shouldn't make any comment in connection with the judgment. I can only protect the law which will take its own course." Banerjee on January 14 allegedly slapped a traffic constable, Taragati Biswas, at the Lake Town crossing on VIP Road, after the cop stopped his vehicle for taking an illegal U-turn. Based on a complaint lodged by Biswas, the Lake Town police booked Banerjee under non-bailable IPC sections 353 (assault or use of criminal force to deter a public servant from discharge of his duty) and bailable IPC section 186 (obstructing public servant from discharging of public function). On June 15, the Lake Town police filed the six-page chargesheet in the Bidhannagar court after which the court issued a pre-arrest order, asking the police to produce him within a fortnight. The police sent a notice to Banerjee's house, asking him to visit the police station by July 1. But Banerjee reportedly ignored the notice. On July 3, after the police told the magistrate that Banerjee had not responded to the summons, the Bidhannagar ACJM court issued an arrest warrant against him. ACJM Apurba Kumar Ghosh asked the police to take him into custody and produce him before court by July 17. Banerjee challenged the legality of the arrest warrant and on July 8, he appealed in a Barasat court for a stay order. Besides the defence lawyer, public prosecutor Shantomoy Bose argued against his arrest warrant, telling additional di8strict and session judge Amitava Chatterjee that Banerjee was not an absconder and that he followed the police summons. The Barasat co8urt on July 9 stayed his arrest.