Trinamool bins guv’s ‘in-house enquiry report’, calls it garbage
Times of India | 21 July 2024
Kolkata: Trinamool on Saturday binned a 23-page “in-house judicial enquiry report” released by Raj Bhavan and termed the “exoneration” of governor CV Ananda Bose from molestation charges levelled by an ex-Raj Bhavan staffer as “garbage”. Raj Bhavan released the report on X, incidentally a day after the Supreme Court agreed to hear a plea by the survivor, who questioned whether immunity under Article 361 exempted the governor from criminal proceedings.
TMC said the report released by Raj Bhavan, when the apex court was seized of the issue, amounted to a “blatant attempt to influence the judiciary sitting in a constitutional post”.
The Raj Bhavan report dated May 11 and signed by a Puducherry ex-district judge, D Ramabathiran, questioned the survivor. It said the probe “leads to a singular conclusion that the complainant’s conduct, timing and chosen strategies raise doubts and are seemingly not above board. The allegations and the manner of their execution are shredded in a shadow of doubt.” It concluded that the survivor’s complaint that the governor molested her first on April 24 and then again on May 2 are “ruled out as baseless allegations”.
The enquiry claimed to have examined 69 media reports and “examined” eight persons — all Raj Bhavan staffers. The report dragged in the Special Protection Group, saying it had taken control of Raj Bhavan for PM’s overnight stay on May 2 and “it is highly improbable” that the governor would choose such a day “to engage in misconduct with the complainant”.
TMC’s former Rajya Sabha leader Kunal Ghosh said: “In the name of an enquiry report, the Raj Bhavan has published some garbage. The survivor has moved SC. The case is being heard. In midst of this, the governor publishes a report saying that I have conducted an investigation against myself and have given myself a clean chit. To investigate, he had to bring in a retired judge all the way from Puducherry to Bengal. If he was really innocent, he would have said that he will not take the shield of constitutional immunity and face police investigation.”
MP Kalyan Banerjee said: “The apex court is seized of the matter. To release such a report can have only one conclusion — a blatant attempt to influence the judiciary sitting in a constitutional post. How can an accused be a judge? What legal rationale does such so-called judicial enquiry have, unless done with ulterior motive? This report does not exonerate him but only proves his culpability.”