EX-Calcutta HC Chief Justice Manjula Chellur Heads SIT Probe Post-poll Incidents

Justice Manjula Chellur, the first lady   Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court from  6 August 2014 to 21 August 2016, will head the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing post-poll violence in West Bengal. The SIT  has been constituted by the High Court on the basis of the report of the  National Human Rights Commission to probe allegations of post-poll violence that had erupted in the State following the 2021 assembly elections. A  Bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and comprising  Justice I.P Mukerji, Justice Harish Tandon, Justice Soumen Sen and Justice  Soumen Sen and Justice Subrata Talukdar informed the concerned parties on Friday, September 3 that Justice Manjula Chellur would monitor the functioning of the SIT pursuit to its earlier order. The Court further directed the State government to extend Justice Manjula Chellur INR 10 lakhs for the assignment. it was also directed to ensure to provide all arrangements for her to stay at a place befitting to a Chief Justice. “It shall be the duty of the WB Chief Justice to ensure that all arrangements for her travel and stay are made and protocol facilities are extended to her”, the order said. The High Court has handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation the investigation of the cases related to murder, rape and crime against women. The Court has specified that the CBI investigation would also be court-monitored. The Special Investigation Team includes  Suman Bala Sahoo, Soumen Mitra and Ranveer Kumar, all IPS officers of the West Bengal cadre. The bench had directed that the SIT would be entitled to take the assistance of any other police officer or any institution or agency for carrying out a fair investigation into the cases. The investigations by SIT and CBI will be monitored by the HC  and they are ordered to submit a status report before it within six weeks from August 19. The West Bengal government has appointed ten IPS officers to assist the SIT. Karnataka-born Manjula Chellur may be mentioned, was born on December 5, 1955, at Bellary in Karnataka, Justice Manjula Chellur is the daughter of C. Bheemappa Chetty and Rangamma Chetty. After obtaining a degree in Arts from Allum Sumangalamma Women’s College in her hometown, Justice Manjula Chellur obtained Law degree from Renukacharya Law College in Bengaluru in 1977. She started practice in August 1978 in Bellary being the first woman advocate of Bellary. She is a former Chief Justice of Bombay High Court  Earlier, she was the Chief Justice of Kerala High Court and the first female judge of the Karnataka High Court. She demitted her office upon attaining the age of superannuation on 4 December 2017. Edited by PK Chakravarty