Kolkata: A five-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court on Monday rejected West Bengal government’s petition to recall the June 18 verdict, directing the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to constitute a committee for reviewing post-poll violence in the state.
Headed by acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal, the bench made stern observations on the law and order situation in the state, noting the state police’s inaction even as more human rights violation complaints are being filed.
Notably, the BJP leader and lawyer Priyanka Tibrewal had submitted before the court that nearly 3,400 complaints had been received till June 21.
The TMC government has, however, denied all allegations. Another judge on the bench, Justice Harish Tandon said while the NHRC received 541 complaints, not a single one was received by the West Bengal Human Rights Commission.
Meanwhile, the NHRC had constituted a seven-member committee that includes National Commission for Minorities Vice-Chairperson Atif Rasheed, National Commission for Women member Rajulben L Desai, West Bengal State Human Rights Commission Registrar Pradip Kumar Panja and will be headed by NHRC member Rajeev Jain.
Meanwhile, West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh stated that West Bengal had become a hotbed of terrorists.
“The entire state has become a hotbed of terrorists. The government is aware of that but is absolutely silent on the issue. Why should there be blasts in the state? Why should Bengal become a safe haven for the terrorists? The government is trying to provide shelter to them,” said Ghosh also referring to the post-poll violence.
Union Minister Smriti Irani also slammed the West Bengal government stated that she had time-and-again said that political torture, murder and rape are political weapons of the TMC and the post-poll violence is a perfect example.
Earlier, BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya took to Twitter and said the ruling party had appealed to the court due to fear of being exposed. “It is not surprising that Mamata Banerjee has moved Calcutta High Court demanding that the five-judge bench order asking NHRC to investigate post-poll violence be withdrawn. WB Govt is complicit, has been dragging its feet on complaints. Now they fear getting exposed hence the move,” read Malviya’s tweet.
The Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari also met Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar to seek his help to curb post-poll violence.
Notably, Dhankhar, during his three-day tour to the national capital, met President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah twice to inform them about the prevailing post-poll violence in the state.
Ahead of his meeting with the Governor, Adhikari said that with a series of false cases slapped on the BJP workers and leaders, he will soon move the Supreme Court seeking CBI probe into the case.
Meanwhile, BJP’s national president JP Nadda has called Suvendu to the national capital to take stock of the post-poll violence.
According to BJP sources, Suvendu will visit Delhi on Wednesday to update the national president on the present situation of post-poll violence in the state.
