MUMBAI: A metropolitan magistrate in Mumbai on Tuesday issued summons to West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on a complaint filed by BJP's Mumbai unit secretary who alleged she disrespected the national anthem last December.
The complainant, Vivekanand Gupta, said Banerjee was on December 1, 2021 present at a public function at Y B Chavan Auditorium in south Mumbai as the main speaker, and that at the end of the event, she started singing the national anthem in a sitting position. Gupta also alleged that later on she stood up and sang two more verses and abruptly stopped singing and left the venue. The video of the event went viral on social media.
The complaint and video clip "prima facie prove'' that she committed an offence under section 3 of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act of 1971, said the Magistrate, P I Mokashi, of the Mazgaon court.
The case will next be heard on March 2.
