Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday granted anticipatory bail to former CPM MLA Tanmoy Bhattacharya, who was accused of sexual harassment by a woman journalist associated with a YouTube channel in Oct.
The division bench of Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Gaurang Kanth granted him anticipatory bail against a personal bond along with a few conditions — refraining from contacting the complainant directly or indirectly and reporting to the police once a month. The woman registered an FIR was registered against Bhattacharya at Baranagar Police Station, following which he approached the HC for anticipatory bail.
CPM state secretary Md Salim said that the withdrawal of the party's suspension on him did not mean that Bhattacharya was given a clean chit. "The suspension was imposed when the internal enquiry committee was talking to the persons involved. It is a practice to suspend the accused so that he does not get a chance to influence the enquiry. The suspension was lifted after the enquiry committee submitted their report. It does not mean that he has been absolved of charges. The state committee will decide based on the committee's report," he said.