Former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee made a dramatic appearance at the Calcutta High Court on Thursday, stepping into the courtroom in a lawyer’s robe to argue a politically sensitive case linked to alleged post-election violence across the state. Her courtroom intervention immediately drew widespread attention, turning the hearing into one of the most closely watched legal and political developments in Bengal after the Assembly elections.
Mamata arrived at the High Court complex shortly before 11 AM wearing the traditional black advocate’s gown. The Trinamool Congress leader appeared before the bench of Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Parthasarathi Sen during the hearing of a public interest litigation concerning allegations of violence, intimidation and attacks reported from different parts of West Bengal following the election results.
Addressing the bench, Mamata said it was the first time she was personally arguing a case at the Calcutta High Court. She informed the judges that she had enrolled with the Bar Council in 1985 and had regularly renewed her membership since then.
Mamata Banerjee Appears as Lawyer in Calcutta High Court Over Post-Poll Violence Case
During her submission, the former Chief Minister alleged that women, children and members of minority communities were being targeted in several areas after the elections. She claimed that complaints of threats, attacks, looting and arson were being reported regularly but alleged that the police were failing to take adequate action.
“Married women are being threatened with rape. Houses are being looted and set on fire,” Mamata told the court, according to legal sources present during the hearing.
She further requested permission from the court to include additional allegations through supplementary affidavits and appealed to the judiciary to intervene in order to “save the people of Bengal.” She also remarked that West Bengal should not become a “bulldozer state.”
The state government, however, strongly opposed the allegations during the hearing. Senior advocate Dhiraj Trivedi, representing the administration, argued that the claims lacked specific evidence and factual details.
He told the court that no concrete information had been provided regarding where incidents had occurred or who had filed complaints. According to the state’s counsel, the police remained active and alert across the state, and broad allegations without supporting documentation could not be accepted at face value.
Trivedi also argued that the court should first determine whether the incidents in question genuinely constituted post-poll violence before issuing any interim orders. Referring to earlier judicial proceedings linked to the 2021 elections, he pointed out that even a larger five-judge bench had previously examined similar allegations in detail.
The PIL was filed by advocate Shirshanya Banerjee, son of Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee, seeking judicial intervention over the alleged incidents of post-election unrest in West Bengal.
This is not the first time Mamata Banerjee has personally appeared before a constitutional court in recent months. Before the Assembly elections, she had also appeared before the Supreme Court during hearings related to the special intensive revision of voter lists in the state.
Her latest courtroom appearance is being viewed as both a legal and political statement, highlighting the Trinamool Congress leadership’s continued confrontation with the BJP-led administration after the dramatic shift in Bengal’s political landscape.
As the legal battle over post-poll violence intensifies, Thursday’s hearing has once again placed Bengal’s tense political atmosphere under national spotlight.
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