FIR against Bengali intellectuals

The FIR was lodged by the police in Lalgarh. It was still not known if cases would be registered against them for their alleged violation of the prohibitory orders.The intellectuals, however, pleaded complete ignorance about the prevalence of Section 144 CrPC on that day.

“Before leaving for Lalgarh, I personally spoke to Chief Secretary Ashok Mohan Chakraborty who advised me against going there in view of the turbulent situation, but he didn’t say a word about the prohibitory orders,” Shaonli Mitra, theatre personality and daughter of Shambhu Mitra, told Decan Herald. “Police checked our cars and people accompanying us at least three times before our arrival and departure from Lalgarh, and not a single official conveyed to us that CrPC  144 was in force then,” she said.

 The intellectuals comprising film director-actress Aparna Sen, poet Joy Goswami, theatre artistes Shaoli Mitra and Kaushik Sen among others, camped at Lalgarh for a few hours before leaving for the city on the same day.

In another development, a report from Berhampur said Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had defended the Centre’s decision to deploy paramilitary forces in Lalgarh. “The state government failed to reopen the Lalgarh police station for seven months...Under such circumstances, the Centre can’t sit idle,” he said.