Thirteen years after a series of high-profile student demonstrations disrupted parts of New Delhi, the Delhi Police have formally served a notice to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The legal summons, issued on Monday, is related to a case registered in 2013 concerning the gherao of the Banga Bhawan and the Planning Commission office in the national capital.
According to police officials, a team from the Delhi Police visited Ms. Banerjee’s residence, located on Harish Chatterjee Street in Kolkata’s Kalighat area, to deliver the notice. The action follows a long-standing investigation into events that took place during a period of intense political unrest triggered by the death of Sudipto Gupta, a leader of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), while in police custody in Kolkata.
The legal case, identified as number 57/13 and dated April 9, 2013, was registered at the Parliament Street Police Station. The charges filed under the Indian Penal Code include sections 186, 353, 332, 147, 149, and 34, which pertain to the obstruction of public servants from discharging their duties, among other offences. The notice served to the Chief Minister requests her presence at the Parliament Street Police Station to record her statement as a witness in the ongoing matter.
The roots of this legal development lie in the student-led agitations of April 2013. Following the death of 22-year-old SFI leader Sudipto Gupta, hundreds of protesters from the SFI and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) stormed and surrounded Banga Bhawan, the official guest house of the West Bengal government situated on Hailey Road in New Delhi. The protest, which sought to highlight the circumstances of Mr. Gupta’s death, created significant security challenges for local authorities.
Tensions reached a further peak on April 9, 2013, when protesters gathered outside the Planning Commission office. At the time, the then West Bengal Finance Minister, Amit Mitra, and Ms. Banerjee were visiting the capital for an official meeting. Activists associated with the Left Front and the SFI allegedly gheraoed the vicinity and heckled the leaders, leading to the registration of the FIR by the Delhi Police on the same day.
The service of this notice over a decade later marks a significant progression in the case, which had remained active in the police records since 2013. The Delhi Police have maintained that the investigation into the conduct of the protestors and the obstruction of officials during that period remains a matter of legal scrutiny. While the incident occurred during a volatile period of student activism in the capital, the current development indicates a renewed focus on concluding the pending investigation.
As of now, the procedural requirement mandates that the Chief Minister comply with the notice to provide her version of events to the investigators. The legal proceedings underscore the long-term nature of criminal investigations involving public protests and the associated security protocols in the national capital. The Delhi Police have not provided further details regarding the immediate next steps should the summons be contested, but for now, the focus remains on the recording of the witness statement as directed by the authorities.
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