Bengal: TMC leader Anubrata Mondal granted bail in police officer abuse case

Bolpur: A court in West Bengal's Birbhum district on Monday granted bail to TMC leader Anubrata Mondal after he surrendered in the court and moved an anticipatory relief petition in connection with the case of alleged use of abusive and derogatory language during a telephonic conversation with a police officer.

Mondal's plea on health grounds was accepted by Judicial Magistrate Banikbrata Dutta of Bolpur Subdivision Court on a surety of Rs 1,000 and on condition that he will continue to cooperate with the probe and meet the investigating officer (IO) when summoned, court officials said.

In a leaked four-minute telephonic conversation between Mondal and Bolpur police station inspector-in-charge Litan Halder on May 29 this year, the authenticity of which PTI couldn't independently verify, the Birbhum Trinamool Congress leader was heard hurling invectives at the police officer and threatening his wife and mother.

Left red-faced by the audio-clip, the party issued him a four-hour apology deadline and a suo motu FIR was lodged against him by the police. Mondal was issued police summons and his security details withdrawn.

Faced with party annoyance, Mondal tendered written apologies to both the police officer and the TMC state president Subrata Bakshi but avoided responding to the initial summons from Bolpur Police.

On June 6, seven days after the purported audio clip surfaced, Mondal appeared before the Bolpur SDPO where his cell phone was reportedly inspected.

Mondal arrived at the Bolpur Subdivision Court around 10.40 am on Monday for his voluntary surrender and his bail hearing was taken up post 2 pm.

"The court granted him bail considering his age and the physical ailments he suffers from. There are no pre-conditions to his bail," said Nupur Dutta Banerjee, Mondal's counsel.

"I had submitted before the court that the IO in this case did not duly comply with the notice served to Mondal under Section 35(3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, which outlines the procedure for police to issue a notice to individuals in cognisable offenses where arrest isn't immediately necessary," said Phiroj Pal, government lawyer, confirming that he opposed the bail prayer.

"Secondly, we are still not privy to the police's case diary (CD) and have no idea how far the investigations in this case have so far progressed. We wanted the court to wait till we had the CD in our hand," he added.

Pal said that the court was prima facie satisfied with the petitioner's submission that Mondal has cooperated with the police and that there has been no progress in the probe for a formidable period.

In September 2024, Mondal was granted bail in the multi-crore cattle smuggling case when he stepped out of the Tihar Jail after remaining imprisoned for over two years.