Even as Trinamool Congress Ministers in the State government continued to defend the action taken against a professor of Jadavpur University, Ambikesh Mahapatra, for forwarding an email with a graphic that “defamed” Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, residents of a housing society of which he is the assistant secretary took out a protest march in the city on Sunday.
The silent procession saw residents of all ages come out in support of Mr. Mahapatra. They held up posters proclaiming it was a “shame” that such an incident should have taken place and warning that a similar fate may befall any free thinking person in the State.
The residents also protested against the manner in which the police handled the situation — while Mr. Mahapatra spent a night in a police lock-up although the charges against him were bailable offences, the four persons who assaulted him, believed to be associated with the Trinamool Congress, were released shortly after they were arrested.
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Mr. Mahapatra has alleged that he was harassed because he resisted a syndicate run by local leaders of the Trinamool Congress engaged in supplying building materials to the housing society.
Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress Ministers in the State government continued to defend the actions of the police. “If someone draws a caricature, then it is a cartoon. But using actual photographs towards a particular end is a crime under the law. The law will take its own course in this case,” said Firhad Hakiim, Minister for Urban Development.
Subrata Mukherjee, Minister for Rural Development, said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee assured security for everyone, but under no circumstances would an “illegal act” be tolerated.
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He rubbished allegations that Mr. Mahapatra was assaulted by people associated with the Trinamool Congress. “How did any party worker of the Trinamool Congress commit such an act? I have my suspicions about this,” he said.
Meanwhile senior leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Benoy Konar pointed out that the police had not taken any action in the past when similar caricatures were drawn of Chief Minister Jyoti Basu or Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. “Once Rajiv Gandhi's role in the Bofors scam was shown in a strip, with his nose becoming increasingly elongated in every panel. Even this had not prompted any such arrests,” Mr. Konar said.
Mr. Mahapatra was allegedly assaulted by some youth after and he was arrested by the police late on Thursday night for circulating an email with a graphic that made a humorous reference to Ms. Banerjee's decision to replace Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi with Mukul Roy.