A long battle for professor charged with forwarding Mamata’s cartoon

Mahapatra says Bengal govt.’s persistence on continuing cases is an attempt to harass him

Almost nine and half years after he was arrested for forwarding a cartoon of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, a court in Kolkata has discharged Ambikesh Mahapatra under Section 66 A of the Information and Technology Act, 2000, but the professor cannot heave a sigh of relief as the matter will be still pending before the court.

“To 17-11-2021 for hearing as to whether any case under Section 500/509 of the IPC or any other law can be made out against the accused Ambikesh Mahapatra or whether the accused merits to be discharged from the case,” said a Tuesday order by Subrata Mukherjee, Chief Judicial Magistrate, Alipore, 24 Parganas (South).

Prof. Mahapatra pointed out that the Supreme Court in 2015 had passed a landmark decision striking down the draconian Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 but he continued to fight the case involving the charge for six long years. Under the IPC, Section 509 pertains to (word, gesture or act meant to insult women) and Section 500 (punishment for defamation).