COURT OVERTURNS ORDER BARRING MAMATA BANERJEE FROM MAKING REMARKS ABOUT GOVERNOR
The Calcutta High Court on Friday ruled in favour of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee after she moved against an earlier order barring her from making any statement against Governor CV Ananda Bose.
Last week, a single-judge bench of the High Court passed an interim order, directing Mamata Banerjee and three other Trinamool Congress leaders not to make any "defamatory or incorrect" statement against Bose.
The court's order came on a defamation suit filed by the Governor against Mamata Banerjee, Kunal Ghosh and two newly elected TMC MLAs. The Chief Minister had claimed that women were not feeling safe entering the Raj Bhavan due to the recent allegations against the Governor.
Challenging the order, the Trinamool Congress chief and her party leader Kunal Ghosh moved a petition before a division bench.
Modifying the previous order, the division bench headed by Justice IP Mukerji stated that Mamata Banerjee and Kunal Ghosh will be free to make statements regarding the governor as long as they conform to the laws of the land and are not defamatory.
The division bench also observed that a man's reputation is sacrosanct to him and the law gives him power to protect it. On the other hand, freedom of speech and expression is conferred to every citizen of India, which cannot be throttled.
The bench also noted that this freedom is, however, subject to reasonable restrictions.
2024-07-26T16:00:57Z dg43tfdfdgfd