Three CPI-M Leaders Surrender in Local Court on Supreme Court Directions, Sent to Jail

Three CPI-M leaders, who were booked and convicted in a case of assaulting a judge in South Tripura district during a nationwide strike in September 2015, have surrendered before a court and were sent to jail, a defense lawyer said on Sunday.

Following the instructions of the Supreme Court, the three CPI-M leaders—Tapas Datta, Trilokesh Sinha, and Babul Debnath—surrendered before a local court in Belonia, South Tripura district, on Saturday afternoon. The court subsequently sent them to jail. The next hearing of the case in the apex court is scheduled for March 18, the lawyer told the media.

Datta is currently the CPI-M’s South Tripura district Secretary, while Debnath is the leader of the All India Kishan Sabha, and Sinha is a leader of the CPI-M’s trade union body, CITU.

*Background of the Case*

The incident occurred on September 2, 2015, during a nationwide strike. The police registered a suo-moto case and launched a probe, leading to charge sheets being filed against the three prominent CPI-M leaders. In 2022, a first-class judicial magistrate convicted and imprisoned the Left leaders. They subsequently filed a review petition in the South Tripura District and Sessions Court, which upheld the trial court’s judgment in May 2023.

The three leaders then moved the Tripura High Court, which in July last year also upheld the decision of the district and sessions court to sentence all three to two years of rigorous imprisonment for creating a ruckus inside a courtroom and insulting a judge. The leaders then appealed to the Supreme Court, which directed them to surrender before the trial court first before it would hear their case.

The lawyers of the trio accused have pleaded in all the courts that the CPI-M leaders were not guilty.

Stay tuned for further updates on this case and other news from Tripura.