Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Thursday made her first public appearance outside her 30B Harish Chatterjee Street residence since the day of the Assembly poll results on May 4, showing up in lawyer's robes in Calcutta High Court to plead against alleged saffron violence.

While exiting the premises, Mamata was heckled with "chor (thief)" slogans by lawyers reportedly close to the current BJP dispensation and also alleged assault.

The hearing, centred on allegations of post-poll violence targeting Trinamool Congress workers and a minority community in BJP-ruled Bengal, ended for the day with the court directing the administration to ensure the safe return of those displaced by violence.

Mamata appeared for the petitioner, Sirsanya Banerjee, son of the party's Sreerampur MP Kalyan Banerjee, assisted by him, former finance minister Chandrima Bhattacharya, along with a battery of Trinamool-leaning lawyers.

Lambasting the current administration’s "apathy" toward the persecution, she presented a grim ledger of "administrative failure" to a bench of Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Partha Sarathi Sen.

"My regard to all the judges, because this is my first time appearing in the high court. As a lawyer, I’m fighting this case," she said. "Please see the images. Even the children are not spared. Women are not spared. Minorities are not spared. I am handing over a list of 10 persons who have been murdered," she said, highlighting specific instances of brutality, including a nonagenarian widow allegedly thrown out of her home, and threats of sexual violence against minors. "Everything is being done in the presence of the police."

Bringing up "retributive" bulldozer deployment, Mamata said: "People are entitled to be heard even if you are demolishing an unauthorised structure. Criminals are taking law into their hands.... This is not a bulldozer state. We are not living in Uttar Pradesh but in Bengal."

The petitioners alleged the demolition of centuries-old markets and the vandalisation of 160 party offices, framing the state as "lawless". They moved for the preservation of CCTV evidence and safe passage for Trinamool workers forced into hiding.

The state’s counsel, Dhiraj Kumar Trivedi, and additional solicitor-general Asok Kumar Chakraborti labelled the allegations "ambiguous and bald". Trivedi argued that no specific details or FIRs were provided to support the claim of 2,000 incidents.

However, the court issued significant interim observations. Chief Justice Paul noted it shall be "lawful for the police authorities to strictly maintain law and order at the ground level". The bench specifically ordered that the police ensure any citizen "illegally thrown out of his shop/house/property etc. due to post poll violence" is given a "safe return".

The state received three weeks to file an affidavit-in-opposition.

As Mamata exited the courtroom, a group of lawyers, purportedly mobilised by current chief minister Suvendu Adhikari's election agent, also a lawyer, surrounded her. Shouts of "chor" echoed through the stairs and the lobby.

Escorted by security and her lawyer colleagues, a visibly shaken Mamata alleged physical assault.

"They have beaten me," the 71-year-old former chief minister repeatedly yelled, before being forced into her car. She had to abandon plans for a media interaction outside the high court.

Trinamool spokespersons condemned the incident, describing it as an assault on democracy.

Later in the day, Mamata chaired a meeting of party MPs at her Kalighat residence to strategise and review the Assembly poll results.

BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya denied his party’s involvement, attributing the heckling to spontaneous public anger. "This is not the culture of the BJP," he claimed.
"If people see her on the streets, they will shout such slogans.... These are reactions to the deeds of Trinamool Congress," he added.