Tripura Court Grants Bail to Trinamool Youth Leader

Agartala: Trinamool Congress youth wing chief Saayoni Ghosh, who was arrested by the Tripura police on Sunday on charges of attempt to murder and provocation with intent to cause riot, was granted bail by a court in Tripura on Monday.

Granting bail to Ghosh, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate of West Tripura district, Soumya Bikash Das, directed her to cooperate with the police investigation in the case registered against her. The police had urged the court for two-day custody of Ghosh, but their plea was rejected.

Defence lawyer Shankar Lodh said that the court did not find appropriate evidence to support the police’s claim, nor did it found sufficient reason for Ghosh’s arrest.

“On the basis of Rs 20,000 bond and a surety, the court granted bail to Ghosh,” Lodh told the media in the court complex.

West Tripura district’s Additional Superintendent of Police (Urban), B. Jagadeswar Reddy, had earlier said that five sections of the IPC were invoked against Ghosh — 153 (provocation with intent to cause riot), 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language), 307 (attempt to murder), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 120 (concealing design to commit offence).

Commenting on the arrest, Trinamool’s national General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee said here on Monday that she was arrested only for raising the slogan ‘Khela Hobe’ (let’s play).

“Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Assembly election campaign in Bengal had used the slogan ‘Khela Hobe’. Hence, he should also have been arrested,” Banerjee told the media.

Meanwhile, Trinamool MPs on Monday staged a demonstration in front of the Ministry of Home Affairs in Delhi to protest against Ghosh’s arrest and the alleged violence against the party leaders and workers in Tripura.