Suri: A court here on Wednesday acquitted Birbhum district’s Trinamool Congress president Anubrata Mondal in the Panrui hate speech case of 2013.
Chief Judicial Magistrate of Suri Nirupam Kar said that while the CD and DVD containing Mondal's hate speech at a public meeting were sent to Chandigarh Forensic Science Laboratory, the sample voice of Mondal was not sent.
Thus, the voices could not be compared and the allegation against the Trinamool Congress leader could not be established, the CJM said.
Mondal was not present in the court when the verdict on his acquittal was pronounced.
The complaint against Mondal for his alleged inflammatory speech before the July 2013 panchayat election campaign was lodged by Birbhum district administration after being instructed by the State Election Commission [SEC].
Mondal in his speech had allegedly incited people to hurl bombs on police and set the houses of the opposition party workers on fire.
The then district magistrate and returning officer J P Meena had lodged the complaint on behalf of SEC and the charge sheet was submitted against Mondal under non-bailable sections of Indian Penal Code in June 2015.
Mondal had surrendered before the court six days later on June 30 and was granted bail by the then CJM Indranil Chatterjee on a personal bond of Rs 1,000.
