Calcutta HC Restrains Bengal CM Mamta Banerjee From Making Defamatory Statements Against Governor CV Ananda Bose
|The Calcutta High Court has granted an interim injunction against Mamta Banerjee, Chief Minister of State of West Bengal to publish any defamatory remarks against Governor of West Bengal, C. V. Ananda Bose.
The Bench of Justice Krishna Rao observed, “This Court if of the view that in appropriate cases where the Court is of the view that the statements have been made in reckless manner in order to cause injury to the reputation of the plaintiff, the Court would be justified in granting injunction. If at this stage, an interim order is not granted it would give the free hands to the defendants to continue making defamatory statements against the plaintiff and continue to tarnish the reputation of the plaintiff. In the present case, admittedly the plaintiff is a Constitutional Authority. The allegation made against the plaintiff is pending before the appropriate Court but even, paper publication is made by making allegation against the plaintiff. Considering the above circumstances, this Court finds that the plaintiff has made out a prima facie case and balance of convenience are in favour of the plaintiff and at this stage, an interim order is not granted and the defendants are permitted to continue making defamatory statement against the plaintiff, the plaintiff will further suffer irreparable loss and injury of his reputation.”
Advocate Dhiraj Trivedi appeared for the Plaintiff whereas Senior Advocates S. N. Mookherjee, Kishore Dutta, Jayanta Kr. Mitra, Dhruba Ghosh appeared for the Defendants.
A suit was filed against Mamta Banerjee and others alleging that they had made defamatory statements in the newspapers, including, Indian Express, the Times of India and The Hindu against the plaintiff. It was also alleged that Defendant No. 4 on Twitter made vague threatening remarks against the Governor to pressure him to accept the request made by Defendant Nos. 2 and 3.
The Governor submitted that such false, frivolous, libellous allegation made by the defendants has injured the reputation and goodwill of the plaintiff as well as his office being the Governor of the State of West Bengal and exposed him to hatred, contempt, ridicule amongst others.
Mamta Banerjee alleged that she has received complaints from women who claimed that they felt unsafe going to the Raj Bhavan after reports of certain activities were reported from there.
The Chief Minister submitted that fair comments on issues of public interest and the said publications are not defamatory and that she will disclose the names of the Women, who expressed their apprehension to go to Raj Bhavan.
The dispute also arose concerning the Administration of Oath of the defendants nos. 2 and 3 as both were newly elected in the Bye-Election as Members of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly. The Secretariat informed Defendant nos. 2 and 3 of the administration of the oath at Raj Bhavan on June 26, 2024, but in reply to the said notice, the Defendants requested the Governor to make necessary arrangements for affirmation of the oath before the Speaker, West Bengal Legislative Assembly at Assembly House at Kolkata and the said matter also published in several newspapers.
The Court noted, “In the present case with regard to complaint against the plaintiff and his officials is in public domain since the complaint received by the concerned police station. The plaintiff has also approached the Supreme Court challenging the immunity claimed by the plaintiff from criminal prosecution under Article 361 of the Constitution of India. One of the accused involved in the said criminal case has approached this Court for quashing the criminal proceedings and the proceeding is pending for adjudication. The FIR initiated by the Police is also in public domain. Since after the complaint is made against the plaintiff and the officials of Raj Bhawan, the same is published in various newspapers and is available in public domain.”
The Court also said that the right to freedom of speech and expression is not an unfettered right in the garb of which defamatory statements can be made to tarnish the reputation of a person. The fundamental right of freedom of speech has to be balanced with the right of the reputation of an individual, which has been held to be the basic element of the right to life as provided under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, the Court said.
In view of the above, the Court restrained the defendants from making any defamatory or incorrect statement against the Governor of the State of West Bengal by way of publication and on social platforms till August 14, 2024.
Cause Title: Dr. C. V. Ananda Bose V. Sushri Mamta Banerjee And Ors.
Appearances:
Plaintiff: Advocates Dhiraj Trivedi, Shailendra Kr. Mishra, Rajdeep Majumdar, Moyukh Mukherjee, Sushil Mishra, Amarjit Dey, Yashashwi Sundariya, Navneet Mishra, Sunil Gupta, Arpit Agarwal.
Respondents: Senior Advocates S. N. Mookherjee, Kishore Dutta, Jayanta Kr. Mitra, Dhruba Ghosh, Advocates Anirban Ray, Piyush Agarwal, Shrivalli Kajaria, Sanjay Basu, Amit Kr. Nag, Debjyoti Das, Rajarshi Dutta, Ayan Chakraborty, Dhruv Chadha, Dhilon Sengupta.