Friday, August 19 2005 20:18 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kolkata: Veteran leader of Communist Party of India-Marxist CPI (M) Harkishen Singh Surjeet and the editor and publisher of party organ 'People's Democracy' would be served with a legal notice for allegedly defaming Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee over the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, Trinamool Congress leader and noted legal practitioner Ajit Panja said here today (August 19, 2005).

"A legal notice has been finally prepared for service seeking unconditional apology from Surjeet and the editor and publisher of 'People's Democracy'," Panja told PTI here. He said that damages and compensation would be sought from Surjeet and others for alleged civil defamation.

Panja, a barrister, said that a criminal case under Section 500 of IPC would also be filed seeking arrest and detention. Surjeet has, in an article published in 'People's Democracy', said the "so-called firebrand lady of Bengal" was, among others, trying to organise mayhem in the state in1984 during the anti-Sikh riots after the assassination of Indira Gandhi.