Thirteen people detained for fighting at the TMC office are denied bail by a Kolkata court

According to attorneys present at the hearing, a Kolkata court on Friday denied bail to thirteen individuals detained for allegedly assaulting police and Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) officials during a dispute over the removal of an unapproved billboard outside Trinamool Congress leader (TMC) Abhishek Banerjee’s Camac Street office. All 13 individuals who were detained between Thursday nite and Friday morning were placed under police detention until September 3 by the Bankshall court. Banerjee submitted a plea on this matter, but the Calcutta High Court rejected it, according to attorneys.

When the police and KMC officials attempted to pass through the human blockade, Banerjee and a few TMC leaders, including retired IPS officer Humayun Kabir and Rajya Sabha member Derek O’Brien, blocked their way. For roughly an hour, the jostling was shown live on Facebook by the TMC. Banerjee said that there were technological issues with the billboard removal order.

Ajay Kumar Nand, the commissioner of police in Kolkata, announced on Friday that additional charges would be brought following an examination of the video footage of the event on Thursday. The billboard was illegal as per KMC norms. Police accompanies KMC officials deployed to remove illegal billboards. We are reviewing video footages to see who were involved in the use of physical force. Action will be taken on that basis. There is a difference between protest and physical resistance,” Nand said.

“The arrested people have been charged with obstructing government officers from doing their duty,” Nand added. Mamata Banerjee, the founder of the TMC, brought up the matter on Friday, focusing on Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and declaring that his tenure would come to an end on the day the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the center fell.

“Three young Muslim men who were in Camac Street were arrested today after they went to a mosque to offer namaz. Police was not like this during my tenure,” Banerjee said at a rally held in Kolkata observing the foundation day of TMC’s students’ wing, the Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad (TMCP).

“This government needs Central forces to function. We never needed (them) in 15 years. For four months we sought your permission for every political event and had to move court when you refused. Why should we go to court? It has to hear thousands of cases. We won’t go to court from now on. Now I will start touring the districts. Stop me if you can,” Banerjee said.

Targeting the police, Banerjee said, “You arrested our men for going to Camac Street. Why? Can you remove the BJP’s posters? They are all around my home. Now we will file cases against the police. As the BJP doesn’t have workers, the police are working for them.”

Urban development and municipal affairs minister Agnimitra Paul said the KMC did the right thing by removing the billboard. We will deal with the matter in court. We will not allow any illegal activity. The way Abhishek Banerjee behaved with the police does not suit a parliament member,” Paul said.

To commemorate the establishment of its student section, the Chhatra Parishad, which Mamata Banerjee commanded prior to leaving Congress and founding the TMC in 1998, the Congress organised a separate event. To commemorate the day, leaders of Ritabrata Banerjee’s TMC renegade faction also organised a demonstration. At all three events, speakers made fun of one another.