New Delhi, Oct 1: The Supreme Court asked the West Bengal government and others on Thursday to file responses on MP Mahua Moitra’s plea seeking adequate protection during her visit to her parliamentary constituency, Krishnanagar.
The court sought the responses on Moitra’s plea in which she has also alleged that district administration officials in Nadia had evicted her from a Circuit House even though she was allotted a room at the state-owned property.
The plea came up for hearing before a bench of Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing in the court for the state government and the Centre, said he would file responses on the plea.
“We are just sharing our concern. Have you seen the September 1 letter? If a member of Parliament comes to the Circuit House, she must inform three days before?” the bench asked.
Mehta urged the bench not to issue a notice on the petition and said he would file a reply to it.
The bench said responses be filed within a week and the petitioner may file a rejoinder within a week thereafter. It said the matter would come up for hearing after that.
Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan appeared in the court for Moitra.
On the night of August 14, Moitra claimed in a social media post that a large crowd had gathered outside the Circuit House, raising “Jai Shri Ram” slogans, after she refused to leave the premises.
She wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, seeking his intervention in the Nadia district administration’s alleged attempt to force her to vacate a Circuit House after she was allotted a room at the state-owned property.
The Krishnanagar MP had also threatened to move court over the alleged harassment.
Moitra, who had moved into the Circuit House in Krishnanagar for an overnight stay following a Parliament session, had asserted that she was entitled to stay there as an MP but was pressured by district authorities to move out in the middle of the night with the intent to harass her.
She claimed in her letter to Birla that nobody had conveyed anything to her when she made the booking and no one had informed her about the booking embargo when she checked in.
The MP said the premises, opposite the bungalows of both the superintendent of police and the district magistrate, are supposed to be secure where no crowd can gather, let alone a lynch mob. (PTI)
