New Delhi: India’s Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice to the West Bengal government over alleged harassment of some customs officials by the state police, for having checked the baggage of a Trinamool Congress MP’s wife, who is also nephew of chief minister Mamata Banerjee, at the Kolkata airport.
The customs officials stopped Rujira Narula, the wife of Trinamool MP Abhishek Banerjee, at the airport for carrying excess gold from Bangkok.
The Customs Department, in its petition, said Rujira had not even the precious metal in her declaration form on March 16.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said that the Customs Department has drawn attention to something very serious happening at the airport, and the state government needs to file a reply.
A senior advocate, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, said the apex court’s observation would be widely reported in the media, the CJI replied: “We are not concerned about who reports what.”
To this, Singhvi said that his objections to the Customs’ petition should be recorded in the order of the court.
The CJI declined to do so and asked: “What is happening in West Bengal? We could have taken suo motu notice of the incident and sought state’s response.”
The Customs Department in its petition said that this kind of interference by the state police obstructs the department from discharging its duties.
“The conduct of the West Bengal Police is an attempt to instil fear in the minds of customs officials at the airport that if they do not succumb to illegal and mala fide demand of the police to allow all VIPs pass through the Green Channel without any checking, they shall be targeted...”
During a hearing on March 29, Solicitor-General (SG) Tushar Mehta had told the court that an FIR was registered by the state police against customs officials.
