Mamata to face Mumbai court summons as HC rejects National Anthem appeal

On Wednesday, the Bombay High Court rejected Mamata Banerjee's appeal against a sessions court decision remanding her case to a magisterial court upon summons issuance in a criminal charge against her for alleged disrespect to the National Anthem during a program in Mumbai in 2022.

In the High Court, the case was being heard by Judge Amit Borkar. The West Bengal Chief Minister was denied any relief by the High Court, which highlighted that the Sessions Court's judgment was unlawful and that it was unnecessary for it to intervene.

A Mumbai metropolitan magistrate court has summoned the West Bengal Chief Minister in connection with a complaint made by activist Vivekanand Gupta accusing her of disrespecting the national anthem.

According to Gupta's allegation, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) politician began singing the National Anthem while seated at a public event in Mumbai in 2022. Afterward, he stood up and performed two sections of the Anthem before abruptly stopping and leaving the location. In his complaint, Gupta claimed that the West Bengal Chief Minister's actions violated the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act of 1971 since they disrespected and insulted the National Anthem.

The West Bengal Chief Minister received a summons from the Bombay Metropolitan Magistrate Court to appear on March 2, 2022. She had filed a motion to quash the summons before a sessions court, which overturned the summons on procedural grounds and referred the case back to the metropolitan magistrate court for further review.

When the summonses were not quashed and the case was not remanded to the metropolitan magistrate court, the West Bengal Chief Minister filed a petition with the Bombay High Court.