Chargesheet against 4 TMC men for attack on JU prof

Eight months after a complaint was lodged by Jadavpur University professor Ambikesh Mahapatra, police recently filed a chargesheet naming four Trinamool Congress members who had threatened and assaulted him.

Mahapatra was arrested on April 13 for forwarding an email having a cartoon of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. He filed a complaint on April 14 alleging that he had been assaulted, threatened and forced to write a statement by a group of local goons who reportedly belong to the TMC.

In the chargesheet, the police have stated: "The evidences collected so far as a whole indicate that there is ample opportunity to submit chargesheet under sections 341, 323, 506 and 114 (see box) of the IPC against accused Arup Mukherjee, Amit Sardar, S K Mustafa and Nishikanta Ghorai." The charges fall under bailable sections of the IPC.

The police had arrested all four after Mahapatra filed an FIR against them. However, they were granted bail within a few hours.

The police had filed a 96-page chargesheet against Mahapatra and framed criminal charges against him under section 66A(b) and 66A(c) of the IT Act.

Mahapatra has written to the chairman of National Human Rights Commission, complaining that the state government is yet to comply with the recommendation of the West Bengal Human Rights Commission. In the letter, Mahapatra has written: "On the hearing date, September 27, 2012, of the case, the court has taken cognizance of the 96-page chargesheet submitted by the investigating officer of the Jadavpur East police station where section 509, 500 and 114 were dropped but section 66A(b) and 66A(c) of the IT Act were imposed on us. For this we have received summons from the court to appear personally before the trial court on the next hearing date, February 28, 2013."

Mahapatra has raised questions over the state government's indifference towards his case while the Maharashtra government ordered inquiry and suspended guilty police officers who recently arrested two students for posting their opinion on Facebook after the death of Bal Thackeray.

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