Calcutta, March 3: Calcutta High Court today directed the government to file an affidavit on the slapping of MP Abhishek Banerjee by a youth at a rally in East Midnapore and the attacker's subsequent assault by the crowd.

'The state government is directed to file an affidavit by March 22, stating details of the incident in which a Trinamul Congress party member was allegedly heckled by a person at a meeting,' the order by Justice Saumitra Pal mentions.

The order followed a writ petition by Biplab Chowdhury, a lawyer who filed a public interest litigation demanded the court's intervention after Trinamul Congress MP Tapas Paul's rape-and-shoot speech.

In his writ petition, Chowdhury claimed that East Midnapore police did not take any action against the suspected Trinamul activists who beat up Debashis Acharya, who slapped Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek, who is Mamata Banerjee's nephew.

'Legal action has already been taken against Acharya for attacking the Trinamul Congress leader. But when Acharya lodged a complaint against Trinamul Congress supporters for beating him up, the administration did not take any action. The court should not allow this type of discrimination by the police and ask them to start criminal proceedings against the accused persons,' the petition said.

When the petition, filed in the middle of February, came up for hearing today, Justice Pal said: 'I will hear the case in detail only after receiving the state government's affidavit. Before taking any decision, I should know the details of the incident.'

The case will come up for hearing again on March 29.

Acharya was beaten black and blue by Trinamul workers after he slapped Abhishek at a party meeting in Chanditala on January 4. Acharya was then arrested and charged with attempt to murder. On February 21, he was released on bail after the police dropped charges of attempt to murder and criminal conspiracy against him for lack of evidence.

Sagar hearing ends

Calcutta High Court today concluded the hearing of the petition moved by Hriday Ghosh, the son of Sagar Ghosh who was shot dead four days after an inflammatory speech by Birbhum Trinamul president Anubrata Mondal before the 2013 panchayat polls.

In his petition, Hriday had prayed for an order asking the court to set aside an arrest warrant issued against him and his wife by a Birbhum court recently.