HC asks three CPI(M) leaders to file affidavits

Kolkata, Aug 5 (UNI) Calcutta High Court today directed three CPI(M) leaders, including Left Front Chairman Biman Bose, to comply with an order over contempt of court and file affidavits within eight weeks.

The three leaders - Left Front Chairman and CPI(M) State Secretary Biman Bose and two central committee members Shyamal Chakraborty and Binay Konar - were summoned by the division bench of Chief Justice Surinder Singh Nijjar and Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghosh for criticising a court order on the Nandigram police firing incident.

The division bench, however, dispensed with the need of personal appearance of the three leaders till further orders.

The court directed the three leaders to appear before the bench and submit their opinions after it became dissatisfied with their affidavits last month.

The case came to the bench after Calcutta High Court Bar Association, BJP state secretary Rahul Sinha and lawyer Idris Ali moved separate petitions, challenging the speeches of the three leaders at a rally in the state capital, criticising the court order on the police firing in Nandigram, in which as many as 14 people were killed and several other agitating farmers injured.

The matter will come up for the next hearing after 11 weeks.

UNI XC DPM RL DS1646