High court orders CBI probe into violence in West Bengal

(PTI) Kolkata, Dt

The issue of post-assembly violence in West Bengal hit the Mamata government on Thursday. The Calcutta High Court on Thursday ordered a CBI probe into all alleged heinous crimes, including rape and murder, alleging that complaints of victims of violence that erupted in the state after the Trinamool Congress's landslide victory in the recent assembly elections have not been registered. In addition, a five-judge bench unanimously ordered a SIT inquiry into a PIL hearing for an independent inquiry into all cases of alleged post-election violence.

The Calcutta High Court has also accepted all the recommendations of the panel of the National Human Rights Commission on the issue of post-election violence in Bengal. In addition, the three-member SIT appointed by the Calcutta High Court includes West Bengal cadre IPS officers Suman Bala Sahu, Soumen Mitra and Ranveer Kumar. The SIT will investigate robberies, arson, vandalism, assaults and other cases during the violence.

A five-member bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal said both the investigations would take place under the supervision of the court. The bench has asked the CBI to submit its investigation report in the next six weeks. The court also directed the state government to provide compensation to the victims of violence without any delay. The compensation amount is said to be deposited directly in the victim's bank account. On August 3, the High Court reserved its judgment on public interest petitions relating to violence.

The five-judge bench comprises Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal, Justices IP Mukherjee, Harish Tandon, Soumen Sen and Subrata Talukdar. The bench's verdict said that CBI would investigate other serious matters including murder, rape, suspected death while SIT would investigate relatively less important cases.

The inquiry committee will submit its report to the High Court. A separate bench has been constituted for it. The SIT inquiry will be overseen by a retired Supreme Court judge. The bench had on June 18 directed the chairman of the National Human Rights Commission to form a special committee to probe human rights violations during the post-election violence in the state. The inquiry committee in the report blamed the Mamata Banerjee government for the violence.

The commission in its recommendation said that cases like rape and murder should be investigated by the CBI and these cases should be heard outside Bengal. The committee also recommended that other cases be investigated through the SIT under the supervision of the court. Accepting the report of the Human Rights Commission, the High Court directed the state government to immediately hand over the violence-related cases to the CBI.

A bench of the high court said that the state police had not even registered an FIR in some of the alleged murder cases. This shows that the investigation has been taken in a certain direction with a pre-determined mindset. The police do not appear to have registered many cases and in some cases the cases were registered only after the intervention of the court. The bench noted that the matter shows that cases of violence are not scattered in the state and the situation is more serious than the allegations made in the PIL.