CPM 47 get bail

TT,  Siliguri, April 18: A court here today granted bail to 47 CPM leaders and supporters who had been arrested in connection with the violence in Siliguri on April 10 in the wake of the attack on Amit Mitra in New Delhi. 

Police had arrested 51 Left leaders and workers following the clash between them and Trinamul Congress supporters on April 10. The arrested leaders included Darjeeling district secretary of the Citu and former MP Saman Pathak and district SFI secretary Sourav Das. 

Four of the 51 were not produced in court because they were under treatment in hospitals. 

The bail was granted by the additional chief judicial magistrate, Madhumita Basu, who fixed April 25 and May 2 as the next dates of hearing. 

“The ACJM court heard the case and went through the report submitted by police. The court then granted bail to all the 47 against a personal bond of Rs 500 each. All the 47 people were present in the court, including the five women who were granted interim bail on April 12,” said assistant public prosecutor Sudip Roy Basunia. 

The 51 people had been remanded in judicial custody on April 11. 

The other four arrested persons are in hospitals and are still in judicial remand. They are Santosh Sahani, who is at North Bengal Medical College and Hospital, Bimal Pal, Rathindranath Chakraborty and Sumanta Das, all in Siliguri district hospital. 

Lawyers said they would be produced in the court and would apply for bail as and when they recuperated. 

 As the 47 were released on bail, senior CPM leaders such as Asok Bhattacharya reached the court. 

“We feel proud of all the 51 people who were put in jail for working for the party. We had full faith in the judiciary and also thank the families of each of the arrested workers as well as the citizens of Siliguri who stood by us,” Bhattacharya said. 

He said leader of the Opposition, Sujya Kanta Mishra, would hold a meeting of CPM workers here tomorrow. “We will consult with him and then finalise our future agitation programmes,” Bhattacharya said. 

Raghunath Sahani, a vegetable vendor and father of Santosh Sahani, the SFI worker who had been confined in cuffs to his bed at the NBMCH, was also present in court today. 

Sagar Sharma, another SFI worker arrested in connection with the April 10 violence, was taken from the jail to the Siliguri College to write exam. After the exam, he was produced in court and released on bail.