Kolkata, Sept. 2 -- The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday refused to give an urgent hearing to journalists of Anandabazar Patrika who have approached the court for quashing of FIRs arising from the newspaper's use of the phrase "Gerua Gundagiri" in its report on violence at Jadavpur University.
Senior Advocate S N Mookherjee sought immediate listing of the journalists' plea before Justice Saugata Bhattacharya, submitting that multiple criminal cases had been lodged over the publication.
He told the court that the journalists were facing allegations of attempting to provoke communal sentiments and stressed the need for immediate relief.
The court, however, declined to specially schedule the matter and directed that the petition be filed through the regular procedure. Justice Bhattacharya noted that several petitions seeking quashing of FIRs were already awaiting consideration before the bench.
Mookherjee maintained that the matter was not political and pressed the urgency of the plea. He later sought liberty to mention it again if circumstances warranted, referring to the difficulties faced by two senior women journalists.
The court said the petition would first have to be filed and would then come up according to the applicable listing procedure. It also indicated that an attempt could be made to take up the matter after its filing, but made clear that it would not specially fix the case at this stage.
The FIRs followed objections to the expression "Gerua Gundagiri", used in the newspaper's coverage of clashes at Jadavpur University allegedly involving ABVP and FETSU students.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.