TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee moves Supreme Court after Calcutta HC denies foreign travel for eye treatment

New Delhi: TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee has moved the Supreme Court challenging the Calcutta High Court order refusing him permission to travel abroad for eye treatment.

Banerjee, in his plea before the top court, has challenged the July 20 order passed by a single-judge bench of the high court.

The matter is yet to be listed for hearing.


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The Calcutta High Court had earlier extended till October 6 Banerjee's interim protection from coercive action in a case related to alleged intimidatory statements he made during the West Bengal assembly election campaign.

Granting relief, Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya of the high court had directed Banerjee to cooperate with the probe and not travel abroad without the court's permission as previously ordered.

The judge extended the interim protection to Banerjee till October 6, or until further orders, whichever is earlier and said the TMC national general secretary's plea for modification of conditions for granting him interim protection will be heard in August, but did not fix any particular date.

The Diamond Harbour MP had moved the application seeking permission to travel abroad for eye treatment.

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Maintaining that the court was not inclined to allow the petitioner to travel abroad when the investigation was underway, Justice Bhattacharyya said there are several reputed eye clinics in Kolkata.

In an oral observation, Justice Bhattacharyya said the TMC MP should appear before the head of ophthalmology at the state-run SSKM Hospital, who will decide whether Banerjee's eye issue can be treated there.

The TMC leader had prayed for quashing the FIR over his alleged comments against leaders and workers of a rival party at a public meeting on April 27 in the run-up to the second phase of the West Bengal assembly polls.