Ruling party supporters resort to violence to teach protesters a lesson in Bengal: Punch

(PTI) New Delhi, Dt

Bengal has a 'ruler's law instead of rule of law' situation and the ruling party's supporters resorted to violence to teach the opposition a lesson, said a committee of the National Human Rights Commission investigating alleged incidents of post-election violence. The committee also recommended a CBI probe into the killings and rapes. On the other hand, Mamata Banerjee, outraged by the report, accused the NHRC of "contempt of court" and the BJP of "political revenge" and said the BJP had leaked the report of the commission on alleged post-election violence to the media.

The committee, formed by the NHRC chairman at the behest of a five-judge bench of the high court, also said that cases related to post-election violence should be tried in out-of-state courts. The report says that the analysis of the violent incidents shows the horrific brutality of the state government towards the suffering of the victims. In a report submitted to the court on June 16, the Human Rights Commission said that the committee recommended that the investigation into heinous crimes like murder and rape be handed over to the CBI and that the cases be taken out of the state.

Several public interest petitions filed in the High Court have said that people were attacked in the post-election violence in Bengal, which forced them to leave their homes and their property was destroyed. The NHRC committee said in its scathing remarks that the violence was carried out by supporters of the ruling party to teach a lesson to supporters of the main opposition. The violence has left thousands of lives and livelihoods in jeopardy and financially strangled them.

Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been outraged by the NHRC report being leaked to the media. He has criticized the media for leaking his report rather than retaliating against the Human Rights Commission. Mamata Banerjee said reports of alleged post-election violence in the state have been leaked to the media by the commission for "contempt of court" and the BJP for "political revenge". The Chief Minister expressed surprise that the commission came to a conclusion without knowing the views of the state government.

Mamata Banerjee said the BJP was now relying on impartial agencies to tarnish the image of the state and seek political revenge. The Human Rights Commission needed to respect the court. Instead of leaking the conclusion of the report to the media, he needed to file it in court first. The BJP could not digest defeat in Bengal so it is resorting to such maneuvers.

West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee will visit Delhi for the first time in the near future after a landslide victory. In Delhi, he will also meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ramnath Kovind. "I will go to Delhi during the monsoon session of Parliament and meet some leaders," he said. Mamata is expected to meet all opposition leaders in Delhi, including Sonia Gandhi, Sharad Pawar and Arvind Kejriwal.