Calcutta High Court Halts Demolition of Abhishek Banerjee’s Amtala Office

The Calcutta High Court on Sunday issued an interim order that freezes all demolition work at the office of Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee in Amtala, South 24‑Parganas. The bench, led by Justice Raja Basu Chowdhury, told the authorities to maintain the status quo until further directions are given.

The stay came after Banerjee’s company, Leaps and Bounds, filed an urgent plea contending that the premises had valid land records and should not have been torn down. According to the petition, demolition crews began pulling down parts of the building even while the legal battle was still ongoing.

Banerjee, a 38‑year‑old MP and nephew of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, wasted no time in branding the police operation as a blatant overreach. Speaking to PTI, he alleged that the West Bengal police, now under a BJP‑led state government, had turned into “lawbreakers” and that the whole episode was less a demolition drive and more a “theft in uniform”.

He pointed to video clips that, he said, showed police officers – accompanied by men he described as “BJP goons” – carting away laptops, printers, files, tables and chairs. “The lawlessness in Bengal is on full display,” the Diamond Harbour MP wrote on X, adding that the actions were “carried out with utter contempt for the rule of law while the matter remains sub‑judice.”

The incident has ignited a fresh round of political sparring. The Trinamool Congress blames the BJP for orchestrating the demolition, even though the court has not yet ruled on the substantive issue. Meanwhile, BJP leaders have defended the police, saying the operation was a legitimate enforcement of construction norms.

With the High Court’s stay in place, the office remains intact for now, but the legal tussle is far from over. Both parties are gearing up for a courtroom showdown that could have wider ramifications for the already volatile political climate in West Bengal.