Mamata Banerjee Accused Of Insulting National Anthem, Mumbai Court Issues Summons

A Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) representative filed a complaint against the Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee for disrespecting the national anthem at a public event in Mumbai. A metropolitan magistrate court in Mumbai has now issued summons to Banerjee and asked her to appear in court on March 2, 2022.

The Sewree court judge reviewed the videos of the event available as evidence and stated Banerjee abruptly stopped singing the national anthem and stepped down from the dais. The court said, "..the accused has committed punishable under section 3 of the Prevention of Insults to National Honor Act, 1971. The prima-facie evidence brought on record by the complainant is sufficient to issue process against the accused." The court added that there is no need for official sanction as Banerjee was not discharging her duties as the Chief Minister in the said public event.

Mamata Banerjee Insults National Anthem In Viral Video, Court Notes

Mamata Banerjee has also been charged with relevant sections of the CrPC. As per reports, the complaint against the West Bengal Chief Minister was filed by Vivekanand Gupta who is the Mumbai Secretary for BJP Mumbai and also an advocate. In his complaint, Gupta alleged Benerjee insulted the national anthem at the public function. The complainant asked the court to direct the police to file an FIR against Banerjee.

Suggested Reading: Why The Debate over Playing the National Anthem Will Go On

Gupta was reportedly attending a public function in December last year at Y B Chavan Auditorium in Cuff Parade, Mumbai. At the event Banerjee was allegedly seen sitting and singing the national anthem. She later stood up to sing two verses and abruptly stopped singing and left the venue, as per the complainant. The video of the same incident was posted on social media and has now gone viral drawing outrage from different quarters.

Mamata Banerjee went to Mumbai in December 2021 and held dialogues with Shiv Sena and NCP leaders. According to Vivekanand Gupta's complaint, Banerjee violated the Union government's order of 2015 which mandates that national anthem should be sung by people standing in attention.