On Monday, petitions were filed before the Calcutta High Court seeking NIA probe into the violent protests in West Bengal over the inflammatory remarks against Prophet Mohammad by the former BJP member Nupur Sharma, and the deployment of the Army to control the situation.
One of the two petitioners asked a division bench presided by Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava for an investigation by the NIA, claiming that the violence was affecting national integrity. The other petitioner prayed for the deployment of the Army in view of the violence.
Appearing for the state government, Advocate General SN Mookherjee opposed the prayers and claimed that apart from one incident of damage to a passenger train at Bethuadahari in Nadia district, no violence has been reported in the last 36 hours.
Advocate General Mookherjee added that 214 people have been arrested before the bench, comprising Justice R Bharadwaj. Observing that damage to public property must not take place, the court adjourned the matter for further hearing at 2.30 pm.
On Sunday, fresh violence erupted in Panchala area of Howrah. Several videos of the protesters clashing with the police surfaced on the internet, where the protesters were seen setting shops, a few houses, an ATM on fire. The mob also pelted stones on the local police and set several other installations on fire.
WB Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, speaking about the violence, has said that there were attempts by some political parties to incite riots. Taking to Twitter, the TMC supremo said, "Violent incidents have been taking place in Howrah for two days now. There are some political parties behind this and they want to incite riots; but this will not be tolerated and strict action will be taken against all of them. The BJP will sin, people will suffer?"
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