Anubrata Mondal acquitted for lack of voice sample

Kolkata: A local court in Suri on Wednesday acquitted Birbhum district Trinamool Congress president Anubrata Mondal in the hate speech case of 2013.

Chief Judicial Magistrate, Suri, Nirupam Kar said although the CD and DVD containing Mr Mondal’s alleged hate speech at a public meeting in Birbhum’s Panrui village were sent to Chandigarh Forensic Science Laboratory, the sample voice of Mr Mondal was not sent.

The voices, therefore, could not be compared and allegation against the TMC leader could not be established, the CJM said.

Sources said five policemen had recorded their statements in the hate speech case as witnesses but none of them said anything incriminating about Mr Mondal. Significantly, none of those who had attended the public meeting on July 17, 2013, were called by the police to record their statement.

The complaint against Mr Mondal for his alleged inflammatory speech during the July 2013 panchayat election campaign was lodged by Birbhum district administration, following instructions from the state election commission (SEC).

Mr Mondal, in his speech, had allegedly incited party workers to burn the houses of Independent candidates and hurl bombs at police officers who would come to their rescue.

Less than a week after Mr Mondal’s speech, TMC’s rebel candidate Hriday Ghosh was attacked and his father Sagar Ghosh shot dead allegedly by the party’s supporters. While Mr Mondal’s name had appeared in the original FIR in the murder case, he was not listed as the accused when the police had filed its chargesheet.

The then district magistrate and returning officer J.P. Meena had lodged the complaint on behalf of the SEC and the chargesheet in the hate speech case was filed under non-bailable IPC sections in June 2015.

Mondal had surrendered before the court six days later, on June 30, and was granted bail by the then CJM, Indranil Chatterjee, on personal bond of '1,000.

Voicing his happiness over the court ruling on Wednesday, Mr Mondal said he was implicated in a false case by the CPI(M).

“I had always maintained that I was innocent. I am a law-abiding citizen who respects the police and the administration,” said Mr Mondal who had, when questioned about his remark at the time, said it was “a slip of tongue”.

Opposition CPI(M), Congress and BJP, however, said that Mr Mondal was acquitted because of the shoddy investigation by the police, and termed the leader’s acquittal as “a travesty of justice”.