WB govt did not fairly probe post-poll violence complaints- HC

The Calcutta High Court on Thursday said that the West Bengal government has failed to properly investigate complaints of alleged violence after the May-April assembly elections. A five-judge bench, while hearing public interest litigations related to the violence, said the proceedings have become adversarial because the state has failed to properly investigate. The court’s comments came days after a panel of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) set up following a high court order in June to look into violence blamed the state government for it.  It recommended a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the violence and that the trials related to it be conducted outside the state.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who appeared for the West Bengal government, dismissed the report. “It is nothing but a politically motivated report. We do not give credence to the NHRC report,” he told the court. Mahesh Jethmalani, who appeared for the petitioners, said the state whose inaction has triggered the entire litigation wants to now investigate on its own. He called for a probe by an independent agency. “The state has been complicit in many instances.” The court directed the government to file its reply on the NHRC report by July 26. The matter would be heard again on July 28.

The NHRC report said at least 1,934 police complaints were lodged in the state between May 2 and June 20. They included 29 complaints related to murder, 12 to rape and sexual assault, and 940 to loot and arson. It added out of the 9,304 people named as accused, less than 3% are currently in jail. “The situation in the state of West Bengal is a manifestation of the law of ruler, instead of rule of law...This was retributive violence by supporters of the ruling party against supporters of the main opposition party.”