India News | Cal HC Rejects Contempt of Court Plea Against ED by TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee's Kin

Kolkata, Sep 30 (PTI) The Calcutta High Court on Friday dismissed a contempt petition by Menka Gambhir, sister-in-law of Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee, against the Enforcement Directorate and the Immigration Officer at Kolkata airport for not allowing her to travel to Thailand to see her ailing mother.

Gambhir had claimed in her petition that despite an order of the high court to the ED not to take any coercive steps against her, she was detained at the NSC Bose International Airport here on September 10 when she was going to Thailand.

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She was served a summons at the airport to appear before the ED office in Kolkata on September 12 at 12.30 am in connection with the alleged coal smuggling scam. The agency later said the document was erroneously typed and corrected the time to 12.30 pm of that date.

"This Court is not inclined to accept that the alleged contemnors have caused any wilful or deliberate violation of the directions passed by this Court in the order dated 30.8.2022 in detaining the petitioner and preventing the petitioner from travelling outside India," Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya said while dismissing the contempt petition.

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Gambhir's lawyer claimed that the detention at the airport and not allowing her to travel to Thailand to see her ailing mother amounted to coercive action and hence a contempt of the court's order.

The ED's counsels submitted that the acts do not amount to wilful disobedience of the order passed by the high court and that a look-out circular for the petitioner dated March 25 was to remain in force till a deletion request is received by the Bureau of Immigration.

The counsel for the Immigration Officer submitted that the official was not a party to the original petition on which the order of September 30 had been passed and as such did not have any knowledge of it.

The court, in its judgement, said that the expression “coercive steps” is generally understood to mean steps towards arrest and confinement of a person.

"Shorn of any underlying motives ascribed to the actions of the ED, the petitioner's detention at the Kolkata Airport and disallowing her from travel does not amount to coercive steps as meant in the order passed by this Court on 30.8.2022," Justice Bhattacharya observed.

Justice Bhattacharya had on August 30 directed the ED to question Gambhir, sister of Abhishek Banerjee's wife, at its regional office in Kolkata and not to take coercive steps against her till the next date of hearing.

Gambhir had challenged a summons by the ED to appear before it in Delhi on September 5 in connection with an alleged coal scam case seeking direction to the agency to allow her to appear before it in Kolkata, where she claimed to reside.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)