Mamata serves legal notice on hospital, Health Department over disclosure of her medical records

Former West BengalChief MinisterMamata Banerjee's lawyers on Monday (October 5, 2026) served a legal notice on the SSKM Hospital, the Bangur Institute of Neurosciences, and the State Health Department over the alleged disclosure of her medical records from 2021 without her consent. 

The development comes two days after Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, during a press conference, made her medical report public. Mr. Adhikari claimed that Ms. Banerjee had faked her injury. 

The controversy dates to March 10, 2021, when Ms. Banerjee sustained injuries to her left leg and waist in the Reyapara area of Birulia in Nandigram during an election campaign. She alleged that miscreants had slammed shut the door of her car, while she had been standing on its footboard to greet people. 

She was admitted to the SSKM Hospital and subsequently campaigned from a wheelchair, with her leg in a cast. The nature of her injuries became a major political issue during the election.

However, on Saturday (October 3, 2026), Mr. Adhikari made her medical report public, and said "no evidence of fracture or dislocation” had been found. 

The West Bengal Criminal Investigation Department was already investigating the matter, Mr. Adhikari said, adding that the State government would launch a fresh probe after the upcoming Assembly byelection.

Following the development, Ms. Banerjee's lawyer Arka Nag sent the notice via email to the Director and Medical Superintendent of SSKM, and the Head of the Department of Neurology at the Bangur Institute of Neurosciences, seeking an explanation on how his client's medical records had reached Mr. Adhikari and subsequently been made public, a source in the State Health Department said.

A copy of the notice was also forwarded to the Principal Secretary of the State Health Department.

The notice refers to statements made by Mr. Adhikari on October 3, and argues that even if the medical records had been obtained by the State or an investigating agency through a lawful process, that did not by itself permit their disclosure to the public.

However, responding to the development, Mr. Adhikari, on Monday, also warned the former CM against "digging too deep" into the disclosure of her 2021 leg injury medical records, stating that “more such documents could be made public, if required”.

Speaking to reporters at the State Secretariat after Monday's Cabinet meeting, Mr. Adhikari said Ms. Banerjee was "making a mistake" by raising the issue.

"I will ask the Health Department to send me the complaint she has made. Perhaps she does not know what she had done. She herself had filed FIRs [First Information Reports] against BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] leaders and the CID [Criminal Investigation Department] was investigating the matter," Mr. Adhikari said.

He also warned Ms. Banerjee's lawyer against pursuing the matter further.

"I will tell her lawyer not to dig too deep into this issue. She thought she would become Chief Minister for a fourth term, so she had left all the documents in her drawer [at her chamber at the Chief Minister's Office at Nabanna]," Mr. Adhikari said.

He did not, however, specify whether the medical records had been obtained from Ms. Banerjee's office or her residence. Mr. Adhikari also said that X-ray and MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) reports relating to the former CM’s injury could be made public, if necessary.