Calcutta HC Orders CBI Probe Into Post-poll Violence In WB

BRUSHING aside  Mamata  Government’s allegation that  NHRC is biased, Calcutta High Court has ordered court-monitored   CBI, SIT probe into the recent post-poll violence following the assembly election. The order is based on the NHRC  report. It has asked Nabanna to hand over all cases related to the post-poll violence to the CBI. As per the  HC’s order, NHRC had visited the state, met the affected persons and submitted a report to the HC. The order delivered by a 5-judge bench is based on the NHRC findings. . A SIT has been constituted to investigate nonserious cases.  The HC has ordered the state to give immediate compensation to the affected persons through banks . The role of some police officers will also be probed.  Commenting on the order, Nirmal Kaur, retired IPS Office, told a  news channel: “it is a fact that Police were playing the role of mere spectators during the entire horror situation”. The bench led by Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and comprising Justices IP Mukerji, Harish Tandon, Soumen Sen and Subrata Talukdar ruled an SIT investigation with senior officers from West Bengal cadre as a part of the team. Petitioner Priyanka Tibrewal said the CBI will probe grievous offences like rape and murder during post-poll violence in the state . The  SIT has been constituted comprising 3 retired IPS officers of West Bengal cadre & a retired SC judge.’’This was retributive violence by supporters of the ruling party against supporters of the main opposition party.”  It recommended handing over the investigation in grievous crimes like rape and murder to the Central Bureau of Investigation and said that the cases should be tried outside the state. The High Court said the state govt is in denial mode about the violence that broke out in May after the elections concluded. There was enough evidence to prove that post-poll violence had indeed taken place, it added. Earlier opposing the findings and recommendations of the NHRC committee report, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Sanghvi, representing the West Bengal DGP, had claimed during submissions that it was erroneous and biased, adding that a few members of the NHRC panel had links with the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Edited by PKC with The New Indian Express input.