West Bengal SSC scam: Mamata Banerjee asks to stop ‘media trial’; says ‘don’t try to DEFAME us’

Kolkata: Amid the ongoing court-monitored probe by central agencies into school jobs scam and cattle smuggling cases and the arrest of two senior TMC leaders, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said there shouldn't be a 'media trial' and it should be left with the judiciary to find out the truth.

In an apparent reference to daily media reports following the arrest of former minister Partha Chatterjee and TMC Birbhum district president Anubrata Mondal, the party supremo urged the press not to "defame her party and instead project the real news".

"Sometimes such reports mislead and misguide and give a bad name even if those are not true. Let the judiciary go through the evidence and deliver its judgement after finding out the truth.

"But please no media trial, friends; don't try to defame us. Instead, project the real news," the chief minister, while handing over eight floors of the new secretariat building to the Calcutta High Court, said.

She asserted that she has no qualms even if "real news" is against her. "Justice can never be one-sided, it is impartial. In a democracy, judiciary and media are important pillars. If one loses credibility, the other pillars also get affected," she said.

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Noting that many cases are pending with the Calcutta High Court, Banerjee urged Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava to see to it that the cases pending for the last three-four years are cleared.

She opined that there should be more women judges in the high court. Banerjee said over 80 fast track courts are presently functioning in the state. She thanked the high court for starting a bench in Jalpaiguri in north Bengal.

The chief minister said that the Calcutta High Court was facing a space crunch, and allotment of the eight floors in the nearby new secretariat building on Strand Road would resolve it.

"We have 19 departments of the state government in the building. But first to eighth floor will be of the Calcutta High Court. Also, 10 acres of land has been earmarked in Salt Lake area to build an annex building of the high court," she added.