The Calcutta High Court on Thursday granted interim protection from arrest for three weeks to Trinamool MP Abhishek Banerjee in a case pertaining to allegedly forged signatures in a letter submitted to support the appointment of Sovandeb Chattopadhyay as the leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Live Law reported.However, Justice Kausik Chanda asked Abhishek Banerjee, who is the TMC’s national general secretary, to appear before the Crime Investigation Department by 6 pm, PTI reported. This came after his lawyer informed the court that the MP was in Delhi and would return to Kolkata only by 4 pm.He had earlier skipped summons issued by the department in the case. Subsequently, the CID searched the Kolkata home of TMC chief Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday, while she was in Delhi. Abhishek Banerjee is Mamata Banerjee’s nephew.On Thursday, the court said that a person accused in a crime cannot be forced to produce documents that may potentially incriminate them, as it would go against protections guaranteed by Article 20 of the Constitution, Live Law reported.Article 20 provides fundamental safeguards to individuals accused of crimes, including barring them from being a witness against themselves.The matter was listed for further hearing after two weeks, Bar and Bench reported.The caseRebel TMC MLAs Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha, who have been expelled from the party, have alleged that 14 of the signatures were forged in documents submitted to Assembly Speaker Rathindra Bose in support of Chattopadhyay’s appointment.On June 3, Ritabrata Banerjee claimed that Assembly Speaker Rathindra Bose had accepted the claim of 58 of the party’s 80 MLAs to be the main Opposition in the state.Earlier that day, the 58 MLAs submitted to the speaker, without the party’s letterhead, a list mentioning Mamata Banerjee as the party’s leader, Ritabrata Banerjee as the leader of the Opposition, and Sheuli Saha, Javed Khan, Sandipan Saha and Sabina Yasmin as the deputy leaders in the House.Ritabrata Banerjee, who led the group, claimed that the speaker has accepted these demands.The stand taken by the 58 MLAs is being viewed as a challenge to party chief Mamata Banerjee, who is supporting Chattopadhyay as the Opposition leader in the House.On June 2, Abhishek Banerjee sent a fresh letter to Bose, reiterating the party’s decision to appoint Chattopadhyay as leader of the Opposition.Edited by Sneha. Also read: Why the Trinamool Congress is collapsing like a house of cards