West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said that there shouldn’t be media trials as they mislead.
The TMC supremo was addressing the event organised to hand over a block of the state’s new secretariat building to the justice department. She also urged Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava to solve the court cases which are pending for three to four years and also emphasized having more women judges.
While addressing the event, Bannerjee said, “Only one request to all of you, many cases are pending for 3-4 yrs, solve them. I know you’re trying your best but they should be cleared. Appoint more women judges, we have only a few. And also, no media trial, please – it misleads.”
“But please no media trial, friends; don’t try to defame us. Instead, project the real news,” the Chief Minister added while referring to the daily media reports following the arrest of former minister Partha Chatterjee and TMC Birbhum district president Anubrata Mondal.
“Justice can never be one-sided, it is impartial. In a democracy, the judiciary and media are important pillars. If one loses credibility, the other pillars also get affected,” she stated.
Partha Chatterjee and Arpita Mukherjee were arrested last month in connection with the recruitment scam.
The Enforcement Directorate had raided several premises allegedly linked to Arpita Mukherjee in the scam.
The probe agency has recovered cash worth about Rs 50 crore, foreign currency, jewellery and gold biscuits in connection with its raids into the scam.
Chatterjee was education minister from 2014 to 2021 in the Trinamool Congress government.
Following Chatterjee’s arrest, he was removed as a minister and suspended from the Trinamool Congress.
Mondal the Trinamool Congress’ Birbhum District President was arrested last week in a 2020 cattle smuggling case.
The special court judge said the letter warned that if Mondal “was not released his family members would be implicated in the NDPS (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) Act case with commercial quantity,” the judge’s letter read. The judge also sought the attention of the district judge and also brought it to the notice of the registrar-general of the Calcutta High Court.
After his arrest, Mondal, a close associate of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was sent to CBI custody till August 24.
Mondal was summoned several times by the CBI but he evaded appearing citing health issues. He was finally arrested on August 11 from his residence in Bolpur in Birbhum district.
The arrest also led to a war of words between the BJP and the TMC. Finance Minister of West Bengal Chandrima Bhattacharya had alleged that the CBI summons to Mondal was “political vendetta.” BJP leaders have repeatedly accused the TMC regime of fostering corruption.
The CBI had on September 21, 2020, arrested a former Border Security Force (BSF) Commandant, in connection with an illegal cattle smuggling case across the Indo-Bangladesh border. Anubrata Mondal’s name came under the CBI scanner during the investigation of the case, the agency had claimed.