Calcutta, Feb. 20: A Jadavpur University teacher who has been attending classes and is a known face in many an anti-government protest was shown as an "absconder" by Calcutta police allegedly to obtain an arrest warrant.

Professor Ambikesh Mahapatra, who was in 2012 arrested for circulating a social media clip lampooning Mamata Banerjee, got anticipatory bail from a city court today after he came to know somehow about the police's second bid to put him behind bars.

Mahapatra had been charged with rioting, assault, wrongful restraint and obstructing roads following a protest meeting under the banner of the West Bengal Pratibandhi Sammilani at Rani Rashmoni Avenue on December 3, 2014.

The protest - demanding police action following the murder of mentally challenged Kurban Shah, who was found murdered in the NRS Medical College hostel - had ended with a "law-violation" programme that triggered a clash with the police.

The same day, a case was lodged with Hare Street police against the organisers of the programme but no one was arrested, police sources said.

Mahapatra today said he had not taken part in the law violation programme. "How could the police start the case, slapping charges against me. My family is scared," he said.

The police submitted the chargesheet on January 29 and mentioned Mahapatra and three others, named in the FIR, as "absconders".

The investigators made a prayer before the court to issue an arrest warrant against the four. The court granted the prayer.

Mahapatra has attended at least 12 public programmes, including a meeting with President Pranab Mukherjee, and attended classes regularly in the last two months, though the police had labelled him an "absconder".

"Arrest is not mandatory in any investigation. But the fact that he has been declared an absconder... means police had felt the need to arrest him. It is surprising why the police failed to arrest him from either his workplace or so many public meetings he attended after that day," said a criminal lawyer.

Officials at Jadavpur University said they were not aware of any police inquiry against Mahapatra.

Then the question is why the police called him an "absconder".

Mahapatra said it was because the police wanted to arrest him on one pretext or the other.

A criminal lawyer found the motive Mahapatra gave credible. "Being declared an absconder only portrays the accused in poor light, as if he is either on the run or has not co-operated with the police.... In this case, Mahapatra does not fall under either of the categories and trying to demean him before the court is a breach of his civil liberties."

Once police declare a person an absconder in a chargesheet, the court automatically issues an arrest warrant that ensures mandatory arrest.

The Supreme Court yesterday said that individual liberty was more important "than the stars in the sky, the tea of China and the precious stones in the ocean".

The observation was made in the context of the Gujarat police's perceived proactiveness to arrest anti-riots activist Teesta Setalvad and her husband.

This is not the first time that the police have tried to put behind bars somebody who is seen as a dissenting voice.

But that the police would target Mahapatra again after having burnt their fingers once surprised many.

Mahapatra had been arrested on April 13, 2012, for allegedly circulating clips of an Internet joke lampooning chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

Two days after the law-violation programme, Mahapatra had held a news conference on "Vote Bank Politics and Politics of Terror".

"I don't know how the police could say Mahapatra has been absconding. He has taken the classes assigned to him. He has also been regular in the research lab," said a senior JU official.

A senior IPS officer in Lalbazar tried to explain why Mahapatra was not arrested.

"Arrest is a tool to gather evidence, but sometimes it is misused to portray police action which should not be the case," he said.

The officer, however, did not comment on why the chargesheet showed Mahapatra to be an absconder if the investigators had not felt the need to arrest him.

A retired IPS officer, explaining how the police used warrants as a tool to arrest, said: "It is not a new phenomenon. Implementing an arrest warrant issued by the court is always a safer option than making a direct arrest, especially in sensitive cases. It is like striking a balance between law and convention."

Sources said that police also violated Mahapatra's right to information by not informing him about the pending case or the arrest warrant against him.

According to the rule, once an arrest warrant is issued, the local police station is bound to inform the accused about the warrant.

Mahapatra said he was in the dark about the developments till he came to know about the warrant through some independent sources.

"I have been vocal against the state government whenever possible. The government is trying to arrest me to silence my protest. The Mamata government can't stand any voice of dissent. Otherwise how could police say that I am absconding," Mahapatra said.