Calcutta HC quashes Custom’s Summon against TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee’s Wife [Read Order]

The High Court of Calcutta quashed the summon issued by the Joint Commissioner AIU NSCBI Airport Kolkata issued against the Rujira Narula, who is the wife of TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee.

The Court while quashing the summons issued by the Joint Commissioner AIU NSCBI Airport Kolkata held that after the complaint was filed, the police had acted upon the same by taking magisterial approval under section 155 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The customs lost its jurisdiction to inquire any further in respect of the complaint and is restrained from making a parallel inquiry.

On scanning, the scanning officer noticed that out of seven pieces of baggage, three pieces of baggage contained Jewellery and thus the scanning officer requested these passengers to open that three suspected baggage for examination by a lady Customs officer. When the lady Customs officer requested them to open those three bags, the passengers started abusing the officers and threatened them with dire consequences.

After some time, some Police personnel from NACBI Airport Police Station under Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate arrived at the International Arrival Hall and informed that one of the lady passengers happened to be the wife of M.P. Shri Abhishek Banerjee and made a request to release these passengers immediately without any examination of their baggage. But their requests were not adhered to and they were informed that until and unless the examination of the baggage is over by the concerned officer, the passengers would not be released.

On March 26 last year, customs authorities had issued summons to the TMC MP’s wife under Section 133 of the Customs Act, 1962. Mrs. Banerjee, who at that time was pregnant, had landed at the Kolkata airport with her sister Ms. Menka Gambhir while returning from Bangkok.

The Single judge bench Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj quashed the summons issued by the Joint Commissioner AIU NSCBI Airport Kolkata issued against the Rujira Narula, who is the wife of TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee.

The court observed that The customs authorities are free to inquire into the two contested and irreconcilable versions of an event for any violation of the customs Act affecting loss of government revenue, but to the extent which occurred inside the “Customs Airport” as defined in section 2 of the Customs Act.