In the wake of sexual molestation allegations against West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose, the Raj Bhavan released CCTV footage of the premises on May 2 to around 100 common people. Significantly, the footage released or telecasted, the Raj Bhavan said, comes in the wake of 'mischievous' and 'fabricated' allegations by the Kolkata Police that the governor's office is not providing the CCTV footage of an incident.
Released under the 'Sach ke Saamne' program, the Governor's office said any citizen of West Bengal can watch the footage except CM Mamata Banerjee and Bengal Police for the stand they have taken. "To watch the footage, anyone interested can simply drop an email to adcrajbhavankolkata@gmail.com and governor-wb@nic.in or call 033-2200164," it added.
Furthermore, the footage released on Thursday (May 9) showed footage from two CCTV cameras at the main (north) gate from 5:30 pm on May 2.
It is pertinent to note that the move comes mere three days after West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose directed all Raj Bhavan staffers to disregard any communication from the Kolkata Police regarding a woman employee's complaint of molestation against him. In a detailed statement released on X (formerly Twitter), the West Bengal Governor's office asserted that no criminal proceedings whatsoever shall be instituted or continued against the President or the governor of a state in any court during his or her term of office.
"It is clear that in view of Article 361 (2) and (3) of the Constitution of India, the state police cannot act in any manner whatsoever to inquire, investigate, or set in motion any kind of proceedings against the honorable governor. No process for arrest or imprisonment shall issue from any court during his term of office," the governor said in the post, drafted as a communique to Raj Bhavan employees.
He further wrote, “In the circumstances, all staff/employees including part-time, temporary, DRW (Daily Rated Workers), or those engaged in Raj Bhavan in any manner are hereby directed to ignore any communication from the police in this respect and refrain from giving any statement online, offline, in person, over the phone, or in any other manner…”
What is the case?
It is pertinent to note that earlier, a contractual woman employee of Raj Bhavan lodged a written police complaint, alleging a sexual molestation case against West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose. However, the West Bengal governor refuted the charges, stating that “truth would triumph,” and he would not be “cowed down by engineered narratives”.
