Calcutta High Court asks Bengal govt, police to probe post-poll violence complaints

The interim order was based on the findings of a preliminary report placed before the bench by an eight-member committee set up by the NHRC

Calcutta High Court.: File photo

Tapas Ghosh   |   TT  |   Calcutta   |   03.07.21:  Calcutta High Court on Friday asked the Bengal government and police to register complaints from victims of post-poll violence and conduct investigations.

A five-judge bench headed by acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and consisting of Justice I.P. Mukerji, Justice Harish Tandon, Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Subrata Talukdar also directed the government to take all measures so that the victims could draw rations and get hazard-free medical facilities.

The interim order was based on the findings of a preliminary report placed before the bench by an eight-member committee set up by the National Human Rights Commission. The NHRC had formed the committee following an earlier order by the five-judge bench of the high court.

In keeping with the court’s order, the eight-member committee had visited clash-hit areas in the state and met the victims of alleged post-poll violence.

The bench delivered the order on Friday while hearing petitions filed in early June by advocates Anindya Sundar Das, Priyanka Tibrewal and Ravi Shankar Chatterjee in connection with the post-poll clashes that had erupted at several places in Bengal and the death of BJP worker Abhijit Sarkar on May 1.

“All complaints by civilians in this connection are to be treated as FIRs and are to be preserved by the chief secretary,” read the ruling, which also made provisions for rations to be provided to persons whose ration cards had gone missing.

The larger bench also directed the government to conduct a post-mortem on Sarkar’s body at Army Command Hospital in Calcutta for the second time and hand over its report to the committee.

The court showcaused deputy commissioner of police, south surburban division, Rashid Munir Khan, for not carrying out its order and taking no action against people who had heckled committee members when they had visited some areas of Jadavpur in Calcutta.

The court directed Khan to state why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against him for violating its earlier order.

The counsel representing the NHRC claimed that the committee was still receiving complaints from victims and prayed for time to complete its job. The bench granted the prayer and fixed the matter for hearing on July 13.

Opposition leaders have been expressing anger against the government for alleged failure to take action against the perpetrators of the violence. Several Opposition leaders said the interim ruling of the high court vindicated their complaints of violence against Trinamul Congress workers and inaction on the part of the state government.

While the BJP claimed there had been 41 deaths in the violence between May 2 and June 17, sources at Nabanna had told The Telegraph that 16 people had died between May 2 and 4. “Eight victims were from Trinamul, while seven belonged to the BJP. One victim was a supporter of the ISF,” a source at the state secretariat had said on June 17.