FIR against Mamata Banerjee for allegedly hurting religious sentiments ahead of Bengal polls

The Kolkata Police on Friday registered a first information report against West Bengal’s former chief minister and Trinamool Congress president Mamata Banerjee for allegedly hurting religious sentiments with remarks that she made during a speech ahead of the Assembly elections, India Today reported.

A complaint against her was filed on May 20 by a Kolkata resident, who alleged that Banerjee had in March said that if “a particular community united, it could have dire consequences for others”.

The TMC chief has been booked under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections pertaining to acts that promote enmity, hatred or disharmony between groups on the basis of religion, race, language or caste, as well as provisions dealing with criminal intimidation and intentional insults.

Police have begun an investigation and are examining video recordings of the speech, according to India Today.

A zero FIR was first registered at Netaji Nagar Police Station on the basis of the same complaint, which has since been transferred to Hare Street Police Station, reported The Times of India.

Zero FIRs are registered by a police station for crimes that are committed outside their territorial jurisdictions.

On May 20, a separate complaint was filed against Banerjee at the Siliguri Cyber Crime Police Station, alleging that remarks she made during a religious event in 2025 and at a protest rally ahead of the Assembly elections had hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus, The Hindu reported.

The complainant, a lawyer, claimed that Banerjee “had stated that a particular community could ‘finish off’ others within five minutes if it wished”.

Based on the complaint, police registered a case under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita relating to outraging religious feelings, criminal intimidation, intentional insult and defamation.

This matter is also being investigated.

Rebel TMC camp claims support from 64 MLAs

Meanwhile, expelled TMC leader Sandipan Saha claimed on Friday that the number of rebel MLAs backing the appointment of Ritabrata Banerjee as the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly had increased from 58 to 64, ANI reported.

Saha said the group had not expected for so many legislators to join them.

Referring to the FIR against Banerjee, he said the statement allegedly made by her “was not correct”.

The internal dispute within the TMC is currently before the Calcutta High Court.

On Thursday, the court questioned the decision of Assembly Speaker Rathindra Bose to recognise Ritabrata Banerjee as the leader of the Opposition without the consent of the political party.

On June 3, Ritabrata Banerjee claimed that Bose had accepted the claim of 58 of the party’s 80 MLAs to be the main Opposition in the state.

The stand taken by the 58 MLAs is being viewed as a challenge to party chief Mamata Banerjee, who is supporting Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay as the Opposition leader in the House.

The TMC has challenged the speaker’s decision, arguing that it violates constitutional provisions governing the relationship between political parties and their legislators.

The rebel faction has alleged that signatures supporting the appointment of Chattopadhyay as leader of the Opposition were forged.

A police investigation is underway in connection with the allegations.

Edited by Sneha.

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