The Trinamul supporter who had lodged the police complaint against Ambikesh Mahapatra submitted a petition in Alipore court on Monday praying that the Jadavpur University professor be charged with "outrage of modesty with words or gestures" in the case.

The police had dropped the charge from their chargesheet.

After hearing the plea, fifth judicial magistrate, Alipore court, Tashi Phuntsok, fixed the next hearing on Saturday. Whether the court will take cognisance of the prayer is expected to be clear at the next hearing.

In April 2012, the professor and his septuagenarian neighbour Subrata Sengupta were booked under sections of defamation, outrage of modesty of a woman by words and gesture, abettor present when offence is committed (under sections of the Indian Penal Code) and for sending offensive material using electronic communication device (under section 66A of Information Technology Act) after they allegedly circulated on the Internet a cartoon lampooning chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

Though the victim, if any, is the chief minister, Trinamul supporter Amit Sardar had registered a complaint with East Jadavpur police station. Sardar was neither mentioned in the cartoon nor did he receive the email circulating the cartoon.

Following a probe, the police had dropped all the IPC sections from the chargesheet, retaining only the charge under the IT Act.

On Monday, when the Alipore court was to decide whether the case could be tried in the absence of any section under the IPC, Sardar submitted a prayer asking the magistrate to include the charge of outraging modesty of a woman by words and gestures (section 509 of IPC).

The Magistrate does not have the spine to quash the case and hence is postponing the hearing from one date to another.... I do not expect anything more from the judiciary of a state that is being headed by Mamata Banerjee"I would wait for a few more days and then fast unto death at Gandhi statue," he added. Mahapatra's lawyer cited loopholes that according to him, would get his client a clean chit despite the new petition on Monday. "The first clause to slap the section of 509 of the IPC is that the victim concerned should be aware of the offence against her and she should be examined as a witness to the case. But the chargesheet does not mention the name of Mamata Banerjee who is the alleged victim in this case. I would happily agree with the addition of this section only if the chief minister herself be present at the court as a witness and be ready to be examined," said lawyer Mahapatra's defence lawyer Sanjeeb Ganguly.

A senior police officer said, "The de facto complainant has to be satisfied with the investigation. Otherwise, he/ she can always move court seeking re-investigation." However, it would be for the court to decide whether there is enough merit in the Monday's submission to re-inculcate a section for which police had failed to furnish evidence.