New Delhi:

The West Bengal government has filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging Governor CV Ananda Bose’s refusal to give assent to eight bills. The state’s counsel, Astha Sharma, urged the court to list the petition for immediate consideration.

The controversy arose after Governor’s rejection of these bills without citing any reasons, prompting the Trinamool Congress-led government to argue that this action violates Article 200 of the Constitution. According to the state’s submission, denying approval to bills without providing grounds undermines democratic governance.

“The Governor’s oversight poses a threat to democratic governance and infringes upon the rights of the state,” argued the state’s lawyer.

Responding to the development, the Chief Justice stated that the Supreme Court will consider the matter.

Kolkata:

Maoist leader Arnab Dam, who is currently in jail in West Bengal’s Hooghly district, appeared for an interview in the Burdwan State University on Wednesday for his PhD degree in history.

Dam, who appeared for the interview under the watch of the police, is in jail in connection with an attack on the Eastern Frontier Rifles (EFR) camp at Silda in West Midnapore district in February 2010.

He was convicted in February last year.

Dam had cleared the State Eligibility Test (SET) after appearing for the examination from jail. As the prison authorities were reluctant to allow him to do his PhD, he sat on a fast.

After the human rights group Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) took up Dam’s case, the prison authorities softened their stand.

Dam is known to be a meritorious student who cleared the IIT entrance test and got into IIT-Kharagpur. While on campus, he got attracted to Maoist ideology and absconded after his third-semester exam.

He was arrested in 2012 as an accused in the Silda EFR camp attack case.

Dam completed his graduation and post-graduation from the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) while in prison. Thereafter, he applied for a PhD from the Burdwan State University.

Kolkata:

Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress has been up in arms against a controversial comment by High Court judge-turned-politician Abhijit Gangopadhyay that targets Mamata Banerjee. The former judge’s purported comment — videos of which are circulating online — has provided massive ammunition to Trinamool, which has tagged the BJP as “anti-women” since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Didi-O-Didi” taunt in 2021.

The BJP claimed it was a “fake video”. “We don’t agree with the existence of any such videos. This is a ploy by the TMC to release fake videos and malign the BJP. But that won’t make any difference in the elections,” BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya was quoted as saying by news agency Press Trust of India.

The purported video of Mr Gangopadhyay, who is contesting from Tamluk, comes amid the Sandeshkhali row and the subsequent battle for the support of the state’s women voters.

“A leader who has worked as a politically-minded upholder of the legal system and then went to the BJP, has made a disgusting comment about the only woman Chief Minister of the country,” said senior party leader Santanu Sen.

Mamata Banerjee, he pointed out, is a seven-time legislator, a former Union minister and a three-time Chief Minister. Now, a remark in such poor taste has been made against her, he said. “Is this Modi’s guarantee that in the interest of politics, women will be accorded no respect?” he added.

“I cannot even repeat the kind of language Ahijit Ganguly used for our Didi. They said ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’. But when the same daughter is being disrespected, PM Modi is silent,” said the BJP’s Kirti Azad. “The cases of Unnao, Hathras, Bilkis Bano, are in front of us… This kind of disrespect can only be dished out by the BJP,” said former cricketer and BJP leader Kirti Azad.

In 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s taunt for Ms Banerjee was seen as a factor in the Trinamool’s landslide victory in the assembly election. After Congress’s Rahul Gandhi was disqualified from the Lok Sabha after his allegedly derogatory comment on backward classes, the Trinamool demanded that the Prime Minister also be disqualified over his “derogatory comments” on women.

In December last year, Union minister Giriraj Singh’s “thumka laga rahi hai” comment about Ms Banerjee shaking a leg with celebrities had infuriated Trinamool.

“It’s evident that the BJP leaders find it incredibly hard to fathom a woman in power challenging their authority. Their archaic mindset, steeped in gender biases, is blatantly on display,” the party had posted on social media.

Kolkata:

Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose, in the backdrop of sexual harassment allegations against him, has declared that he would allow the public to see the video footage of the concerned day “but not Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee or her police”.

The Raj Bhavan handle today posted a statement titled “Sach ke Saamne Programme” that said the Governor has launched the programme to counter “mischievous and fabricated allegations by the police” that the Raj Bhavan is not sparing the footage.

The Governor has now decided that the footage will be placed in public domain and will be shown to the first 100 people who wish to see it. They will be given access to the footage at the Raj Bhavan. The people will be picked from among those who apply to see it on mail or through phone call, the statement added.

On May 2, a woman claiming to be a temporary staff member attached to the Peace Room in the Raj Bhavan, had approached the police post inside the Governor’s House and accused Mr Bose of molesting her. In a statement, Mr Bose’s office called it an “engineered narrative”.

“If anybody wants some election benefits by maligning me, God Bless them. But they cannot stop my fight against corruption and violence in Bengal,” the statement added.

The Raj Bhavan staff was told to ignore police queries, entry was refused to the police and the state finance minister and the police were not provided with CCTV footage of the day in question.

In today’s statement, the Raj Bhavan said the matter is under “illegal and unconstitutional investigation of the police”. Article 361 of the Constitution has granted to immunity to Governors and the President from criminal proceedings during their term in office.

Amid the general election, the matter has acquired political overtones with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee hitting out at the Governor and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue.

New Delhi:

A Calcutta High Court order cancelling the appointment of over 25,000 assistant teachers and non-teaching staff in West Bengal has been put on hold by the Supreme Court. The court said the Central Bureau of Investigation will continue to look into the matter but there will be no coercive action against candidates or officials.

The High Court had cancelled the appointments, pointing to the irregularities committed during the recruitment. Several Trinamool leaders, including former education minister Partha Chatterjee, and former officials are in jail in connection with the alleged recruitment scam.

The High Court asked the teachers to return their salaries with 12 per cent interest.  The bench — formed on the order of the Supreme Court — also asked the state’s School Service Commission to begin a fresh appointment process.

But the move, which at one stroke made 26,000 teachers jobless, generated immense public anger. On social media, many complained that innocent people were being punished for the misdoings of a few.

Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, which challenged the High Court order, is hoping to reap the benefits of public mood in the ongoing general election.

During today’s hearing, the top court, though, pointed out that the irregularities spoke of a “systemic fraud”.

“Nothing remains if the faith of the public goes… What remains in the system if their appointments are also maligned? People will lose faith, how do you countenance this?” asked Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, who was leading the three-judge bench.

The court also pulled up the state authorities, for creating supernumerary posts and hiring waitlisted candidates when the whole recruitment process was in question. It also rebuked officials for the lack of proper record keeping and adequate data security protocols.

Kolkata:

Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose has denied allegations of sexual harassment by an employee of the Raj Bhavan, calling it an “engineered narrative”. “If anybody wants some election benefits by maligning me, God bless them. But they cannot stop my fight against corruption and violence in Bengal,” he said.

The Raj Bhavan, in a series of posts on X, formerly Twitter, said: “To the Raj Bhavan staff who expressed solidarity with Hon’ble Governor Dr. C. V. Ananda Bose against whom some derogatory narratives were circulated by two disgruntled employees as agents of political parties, Hon’ble Governor said”.

“Truth shall triumph. I refuse to be cowed down by engineered narratives. If anybody wants some election benefits by maligning me, God Bless them. But they cannot stop my fight against corruption and violence in Bengal.”

— Raj Bhavan Kolkata (@BengalGovernor) May 2, 2024

The allegations surfaced ahead of a visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. PM Modi is in Kolkata and is spending the night at the Raj Bhavan.  

Police sources said this afternoon, a woman claiming to be a temporary staff member attached to the Peace Room in the Raj Bhavan had approached the police post located inside the Governor’s House and accused Mr Bose of molesting her.

She was taken to the local police station at Hare Street, where she filed a complaint, in which she alleged that she was molested multiple times by the Governor on the pretext of a job.

The allegations have come as a boon to the state’s ruling Trinamool Congress, which had been smarting over the sex harassment allegations against its now suspended leader Sheikh Shahjahan at Sandeshkhali. The Governor was among the first to speak to the women from Sandeshkhali and made harsh remarks about the state government.

Senior Trinamool leader Shashi Panja said, “We are utterly shocked. The same Governor who reached Sandeshkhali talking about women’s rights has now been involved in a rather shameful incident. He has sabotaged the reputation of his post and his chair”.

“Nothing can be more shameful than a Governor getting involved in such heinous crimes and that too in the Raj Bhawan… Today the PM is coming to the state and he will stay at the Raj Bhawan. We want to know his reaction to the matter,” she added.

Journalist-turned-politician Sagarika Ghosh called the matter “shocking and horrifying”.

BIG. Bengal governor CV Ananda Bose accused of molesting a woman. How utterly APPALLING and HORRIFYING. Ahead of @narendramodi visit to Kolkata who is supposed to stay overnight at Raj Bhavan, a woman has alleged that she was molested while she went to meet the Governor at Raj…

— Sagarika Ghose (@sagarikaghose) May 2, 2024

The issue comes amid a massive row about sexual assault allegations against a Karnataka MP, over which the BJP is facing criticism from the Opposition.

Prajwal Revanna, a leader of BJP ally Janata Dal Secular and the grandson of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, has been accused of raping multiple women.  

The state leaders of the BJP have distanced themselves from the matter and the Hasan MP, said to be in Germany at the moment, has been suspended by his party.