The Calcutta High Court has questioned the Bengal government over the reduction of Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee’s security cover from Z+ to X level, asking why he was not informed and who would be responsible if he were attacked before the matter is resolved.
Justice Krishna Rao raised the questions during a hearing on Tuesday and directed the state government to file an affidavit by October 13, when the case will next be heard. The judge stressed the need for adequate protection for Banerjee, citing the risk of injury during the period under review.
“We will give time to the state government to submit a report. But who will take responsibility if he is attacked in the intervening time?” Justice Rao asked. “If a stone is hurled and it hits him, then what?”
Banerjee’s counsel, advocate Ayan Bhattacharyya, told the court that the MP’s Z+ security was withdrawn on May 10 and replaced with X-level protection. He said Banerjee was attacked in Sonarpur a few days later and was again targeted at Calcutta airport, where an alleged attacker was found carrying a gun.
Bhattacharyya said Banerjee had faced attacks on several occasions and that the state authorities had not explained why his security cover was downgraded. He also urged the court to direct the Union home ministry to submit a report on the matter.
Additional solicitor-general of India Dhiraj Trivedi, who appeared during the hearing, acknowledged that Banerjee had been attacked in Sonarpur. However, he told the court that a private hospital where the MP was taken had reported that he had not suffered any significant injury. “An individual cannot self-assess and declare his security requirements on his own,” Trivedi said.
The case puts the administrative process for protecting high-risk individuals under judicial examination. The Union home ministry determines security levels for such individuals on the basis of threat assessments prepared by intelligence agencies, while the state directorate of security handles the assessment and implementation of protection at the state level.
Banerjee’s security was upgraded to Z+ in 2015 after an attack in Chandipur in East Midnapore. According to the report placed before the court, the directorate of security reviewed his protection within days of the BJP forming the Bengal government in May and downgraded it to X level. The change occurred around the same time as a significant reduction in the security cover outside chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s residence in Kalighat.
The court’s questions focus on two separate issues: whether the downgrade followed the required threat-assessment process, and whether the individual affected was formally informed about the decision. The state government is expected to address those issues in its affidavit before the next hearing on October 13.
