Bengal court summons Shah in Abhishek Banerjee case

KOLKATA: A Bidhannagar special court hearing cases against MPs and MLAs has issued summons to Union home minister Amit Shahseeking his appearance in court at 10am on February 22 in a 2018 criminal defamation case filed by Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee. Advocate Brajesh Jha, also BJP legal cell’s co-convener, said:
“We are looking at the legal aspects of the court order. We will take legal recourse.” The special court had in August 2018 taken cognisance of the complaint, filed under IPC Section 500 for criminal defamation.Banerjee had moved court after Shah had levelled several charges against him in an August 2018 “Yuva Swabhiman Samavesh Rally”. Banerjee’s lawyer, Sanjay Basu, said the summons was issued on Friday.
Bengal BJP spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya said, “It seems that TMC has left the fight on the field and is trying to take recourse to legal battles. TMC doesn’t believe in right to dissent and has started slapping legal cases on anyone who has an opposing voice. They have lodged cases against most of the top-rung BJP leaders, but that has not deterred us.