The Calcutta High Court has denied anticipatory bail to a former IPS official who sparked controversy by making an insensitive remark on Sonagachi, the largest red-light district in Kolkata.
Former top police official Pankaj Datta made the remark last month while addressing the students of Kolkata's Presidency University on the rape and murder incident of a trainee doctor at R G Kar Hospital. Datta said: ...had this happened at Sonagachi (red-light area) we could have said this can happen. This kind of incident cannot occur at a place like R.G. Kar."
His remark sparked a controversy and a case was registered against him at Burtolla police station seeking criminal proceedings against him. He was booked under Sections 79 (insulting and provoking a person with the intention to make such person commit any offence) and 352 (breaking the public peace, or to commit any other offence) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Datta approached the Calcutta High Court seeking anticipatory bail but a single bench of Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj denied the application. The judge also rapped Datta for remarks, asking "why he used Sonagachhi as an example?
The IPS official's lawyer argued that he was merely citing Sonagachi as an example of an unsafe place in the city. He had no intention of casting aspersion on sex workers living there, the lawyer argued.
The petitioner argued that Datta insulted the modesty of those working in Sonagachi by stating that the rape murder of a sex worker was an expected incident. The Advocate General for the state too submitted that the sex workers of Sonagachi had protested and there was a fear of breach of peace in the area after Datta's comments went viral.
The judge also took offence to Datta's statements. "Why did he choose that particular place when there are many unsafe places in the state," Justice Bharadwaj said, adding that the question here was not what Datta thought but how he used the place’s name.
"Are the places where you and I reside safe? Can you assure that? Then, why have you used that place (Sonagachhi) as an example?," she added while stating that his remarks were enough to insult the helpless women living there.
