The Calcutta High Court has ordered a court monitored CBI probe into the human rights violations in the large scale post poll violence that took place in the state after TMC’s Mamata Banerjee returned to power.
There have been allegations of gang rapes and murders across the state allegedly perpetrated by the workers and cadres of the ruling party TMC. The High Court has entrusted all the cases to the SIT for investigation which will be monitored by the court. The cases related to the murder and crimes against women mentioned in the NHRC will be probed by the CBI while other cases will be probed by the SIT.
The SIT will be comprised of three IPS officers, Suman Bala Sahoo, Soumen Mitra and Ranbir Kumar, reported Bar and Bench. A report by Live Law states that the court has also directed the West Bengal state government to immediately process the compensation for the victims of the post-poll violence. The court also rejected state government allegations of bias against the NHRC.
The CBI and the SIT to submit their reports within six weeks.
The bench had earlier ordered the NHRC chairman to constitute an inquiry committee to probe accusations of human rights violations during the post-poll violence. The panel, in its report, concluded that the current situation of the state, is a manifestation of ‘Law of Ruler’, instead of ‘Rule of Law’. It added that the loss of faith in state administration among victims is very evident. The statutory body added that a list of 57 complaints related to women was received from the National Women Commission.
The state government has, however, opposed the NHRC report and questioned the impartiality despite the victims’ testimonies on the barbarism perpetrated on them.
