Court glare on Gurung for speech

Bimal Gurung

SILIGURI, April 20: The Darjeeling police have initiated an inquiry against Mr Bimal Gurung, the Gorkha Jana Mukti Morcha (GJMM) chief, about his alleged speech at the Gymkhana Club Hall in the Hill town on 30 March.
The inquiry is the fallout of a 13 April order by the Darjeeling Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), wherein the court asked police to investigate the matter under Section 171 C of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). If found guilty, he might be sentenced to one year in jail or fined or both.
As alleged, while addressing an open meeting at the Darjeeling Gymkhana Club on 30 April, the GJMM supremo said that anybody found going against the GJMM choice, would be punished after the polls. He also said that party workers would keep a close watch on the situation. Taking cognisance of the alleged threat speech, the Darjeeling Sadar police moved the CJM court in the first week of April and sought permission to initiate a probe against Mr Gurung. On 13 April, the court gave it a green signal, and 29 April has been fixed as the next date for hearing.
Police, meanwhile, will have to submit the final report of the inquiry on or before 29 April. The CPI-M too had lodged a complaint against Mr Gurung with the Central Election Commission (CEC) in New Delhi on 7 April. When contacted, the SP Darjeeling Mr Rahul Srivastava refused to comment.
GJMM general secretary Mr Roshan Giri on the other hand, termed the probe to be a ploy of the ruling CPI-M. He also demanded a probe against the CPI-M Darjeeling candidate Mr Jibesh Sarkar for “trying to divide people on communal lines.”
Meanwhile, the GJMM sent a complaint to the Election Commission in New Delhi against the Inspector General, Police, North Bengal, Mr Kundan Lal Tamta today, alleging partisanship in favour of the ruling CPI-M.

source: The Statesman