Shock to West Bengal govt in High Court in post-poll violence case

Ground Report | New Delhi: On Monday, the West Bengal government got a setback in the Calcutta High Court in the case of post-poll violence. The court has criticized the government while rejecting the petition filed by the state seeking reconsideration of the decision of the larger bench.

Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal has clearly said that the court does not trust the government in this matter. Why is the government objecting to the investigation of the National Human Rights Commission, he questioned?

Earlier, in its decision of June 18, the High Court had directed the commission to investigate the causes of violence and asked the government to cooperate in this. The commission was asked to form a three-member committee consisting of one top officer each from the National Human Rights Commission, the West Bengal Human Rights Commission, and the State Legal Services Authority. will submit its report to the High Court.

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The five-judge bench had said that at first the state government was not accepting the allegations of violence. But the court has information and evidence about many incidents. The state government cannot remain silent on such allegations. The state government had filed a petition against this decision. But the court rejected it on Monday. The next hearing of this case will be on June 30.

The court said that 541 complaints have been filed with the National Human Rights Commission, while not a single complaint has been filed with the State Human Rights Commission. The continuation of violence even after the election is worrying.

The Chief Justice said that even one and a half months after the election results, there were reports of violence. There are allegations against the police for not registering such cases. The cases which have been registered are also not being investigated properly. But the government has kept silent in this matter.

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During the hearing of PILs filed in the election violence case, the High Court had last week said that the state has not taken any concrete steps to address the complaints related to the post-poll violence.

The High Court had observed, “In cases where there are allegations of alleged endangerment of life and property of residents of the State due to post-poll violence, the State cannot be allowed to proceed as per its choice. The complaints need immediate action."

A five-judge bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal reminded the West Bengal government that it was their duty to maintain law and order in the state and instil confidence among the people. The bench also includes Justices IP Mukherjee, Harish Tandon, Soumen Sen and Subrata Talukdar.

Earlier last week, Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar wrote a letter to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleging that the state government has remained passive and indifferent to the sufferings of the people due to the post-poll violence.

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