Observing that the violence that broke out during the recent Ram Navami processions in certain places of West Bengal was “pre-planned”, and that there was a failure of intelligence gathering on part of the police, the Calcutta High Court on April 10 concluded the hearing on a petition seeking a transfer of the probe into the violence to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
A Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya reserved its order on a plea filed on the matter by the Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Suvendu Adhikari.
“Internet suspension usually takes place when there has been an external danger or infiltration, etc. But for a religious procession, we don’t understand why the Internet was suspended. Sudden violence is when people are walking and there is an altercation, etc. But your [State’s] reports prima facie show these (incidents of violence) were all pre-planned. There are allegations of stones being hurled from rooftops. Obviously, it is not possible for anyone to take stones up to the rooftop within 10 to 15 minutes,” the Bench observed.
The Acting Chief Justice also noted that such violence was occurring every year. These observations by the court were on the basis of reports filed before the Calcutta High Court by different the Police Commissionerates under which the violence occurred.
Interestingly, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, while speaking to journalists at an event at the State Secretariat, said that the violence was “pre-planned”. Ms. Banerjee blamed the BJP for inciting violence.
“A month before Ram Navami, all the planning for the violence was done at the BJP party office,” she said. The Chief Minister, who had earlier criticised the police, said that the police had been “tactful” when the situation deteriorated. Violence erupted on March 30 at Shibpur, and on April 4 at Rishra, during Ram Navami processions.
“Now that the situation has been bought under control, the BJP is sending a fact-finding team to further incite violence,” the Chief Minister said. She added that BJP leaders were busy sending “fact-finding teams, human rights teams, child rights team, women’s rights team and what not” after the situation had normalised.
A six-member fact-finding team led by retired Patna High Court Judge L. Narasimha Reddy was in the State, and tried to visit violence-affected areas. The team was stopped from visiting Rishra in Hooghly and Shibpur in Howrah. On Monday, Justice (Retd.) Reddy blamed the State for the violence and emphasised the need for a probe by Central agencies. The fact-finding team also visited the Raj Bhavan and met Governor C. V. Ananda Bose.
In another development, the Left Front leadership organised a “peace rally”, which was stopped by the police. There was an altercation and scuffle between the Left supporters and the police, and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) State Secretary Md. Salim was seen falling down on the road. Left Front chairperson Biman Bose said that while the police had allowed rioters to roam freely, it was obstructing a peace rally.
