Tripura: Court upholds lower court order of two years jail to 3 CPI (M) leaders

A local court in Tripura has confirmed the decision of a trial court to sentence three CPIM leaders to two years of rigorous imprisonment for causing disturbance inside a courtroom and humiliating a judge.

The incident occurred eight years ago during a nationwide shutdown organized by the Left parties.

On Wednesday, Judge Ashutosh Pandey of the South Tripura District and Session Court upheld the trial court’s previous ruling, which included a two-year prison term and a fine of Rs 25,000 for Tapas Datta, Trilokesh Sinha, and Babul Debnath.

Following the incident on September 2, 2015, the police initiated an investigation and registered a case against the three CPI (M) leaders.

The police subsequently filed chargesheets against them. The Left leaders were initially imprisoned by a first-class judicial magistrate and later filed a review petition in the district court challenging the trial court’s verdict.

Last year, the trial court found the three CPIM leaders guilty of insulting Judge Ruhi Das Paul, who was serving as the South Tripura District and Session Court judge at the time, and obstructing official duties.

The lawyer representing the accused individuals argued in court that they were not responsible for the charges brought against them.

On Thursday, the lawyer stated that the CPIM leaders would appeal to the Tripura High Court within 60 days. Notably, Tapas Datta is a CPIM state committee member, while Babul Debnath serves as the leader of All India Kishan Sabha, and Trilokesh Sinha is a Secretariat member of the CPIM Belonia Sub-Divisional committee.