Mamata Banerjee turns lawyer

Former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday appeared at the Calcutta High Court as a counsel to argue in a public interest litigation (PIL) filed at the division bench of Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Partha Sarathi Sen on the post-poll violence following the results of the recently-concluded Assembly polls.

The PIL was filed by Sirsanya Banerjee, a counsel with the Calcutta High Court and the son of senior advocate and four-time Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member, Kalyan Banerjee. Sirsanya Banerjee was the Trinamool Congress candidate from Uttarpara Assembly constituency in Hooghly district in the recently concluded Assembly polls.

However, he was defeated by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate and former National Security Guard (NSG) commandant, Dipanjan Chakraborty, by a margin of over 10,000 votes.

Mamata Banerjee will argue as counsel in the matter, for which she arrived at the Calcutta High Court sporting the traditional black advocate’s jacket and white collar-band on her signature white saree with blue borders.

Earlier this year, Mamata Banerjee had appeared in the Supreme Court during a hearing in a case related to Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal. On that day, she had also presented a brief argument at the bench of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant. However, she did not appear as counsel in that matter.

After that, she arrived at the Calcutta High Court on Thursday, this time to argue a case as counsel at the bench of Justice Paul and Justice Sen.

In the recently concluded West Bengal election, Mamata Banerjee was defeated by current Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari from Bhabanipur Assembly constituency in South Kolkata by a margin of over 15,000 votes.

Even after the defeat of her party, Trinamool Congress, and her personal defeat in Bhabanipur, she did not follow the tradition of submitting her resignation to the Governor, and argued that she was refraining from resigning as, according to her, the results of the Assembly polls were not a true reflection of the public mandate.

However, Governor R.N. Ravi dissolved the earlier state Assembly, which automatically led to the dissolution of the earlier cabinet helmed by her and also made her a former West Bengal Chief Minister.