Calcutta HC orders NIA probe into Ram Navami violence

Violent clashes out in Bengal’s Howrah district on March 30 during a Ram Navami procession. Over the next three days, violence spread to the North Dinajpur and Hooghly districts. Several, including police personnel, were injured in the violence and vehicles were set on fire

The Calcutta high court on Thursday ordered the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to probe into the violence that occurred in West Bengal’s Howrah district during the Ram Navami celebrations in March.

The high court ordered the state police to hand over the investigation to NIA (Representative Photo)

Hearing a PIL moved by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator and leader of the opposition in the assembly Suvendu Adhikari, a bench of acting chief justice TS Sivagnanam and justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya ordered the state police to hand over the investigation to NIA.

“We are convinced that no useful purpose would be served by directing the state police to register cases against those who used acid bottles and petrol bombs etc., under the Explosive Substances Act as the matter has travelled beyond that stage and it is a fit case to transfer the investigation to the NIA,” the court stated.

It further directed the state police to transfer all the documents, records and CCTV footage relating to the matter, to submit to the federal investigation agency.

Violent clashes out in Bengal’s Howrah district on March 30 during a Ram Navami procession. Over the next three days, violence spread to the North Dinajpur and Hooghly districts. Several, including police personnel, were injured in the violence and vehicles were set on fire.

Several vehicles were set on fire, stones thrown and shops ransacked as clashes between two groups broke out in Howrah’s Shibpur during Ram Navami celebrations last month. Many, including police personnel, were also injured in the clashes following which prohibitory orders under section 144 of the CrPc were imposed and internet services had to be suspended.

Earlier this month, the Calcutta high court said reports filed by state police suggest that the Ram Navami clashes were pre-planned, adding that a central agency might be better suited to probe the events that had ratcheted up communal tensions and stoked a political row in the eastern state.

“The (police) report says that the clash took place between two groups. There can be a third person who wants to take advantage of the situation. If that group is involved, then it requires investigation by a central agency. That is very difficult for the state police to find. Somebody would have set the fire, had set the ball rolling. Without a probe by a central agency, you can’t identify that outside source,” the bench had stated on April 10.

Adhikari took to Twitter to applaud the high court’s decision. “The Guardian of the Constitution instilled confidence in the public once again by directing @NIA_India probe into the attacks and disturbances concerning the Ram Navami processions in West Bengal. The Hon’ble High Court at Calcutta has once again pointed out the mischief of the State Government in their attempt to suppress facts for avoiding investigation by the NIA. I welcome the historic decision of the Hon’ble High Court at Calcutta. Let your faith be bigger than your fear,” Adhikari said.

To this, Trinamool Congress (TMC) spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said that the central agencies get involved to shield the BJP. “Ram Navami NIA. Central agencies help to shield the BJP. Munger-Vahini can now heave a sigh of relief. The BJP and the Centre’s plot: First trigger communal tension, then pave the way for a NIA probe. The NIA cant see the BJP-ruled states. Just like Suvendu, who has been named in CBI FIR, is not arrested by the CBI,” he wrote on Twitter in Bengali.

Last week, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) took cognizance of the violence during the Ram Navami celebration and sought a report from the director general of police (DGP) and the chief of Howrah city police within two weeks.

Both the ruling TMC, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have accused one another of triggering the riots. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had accused the BJP of hiring goons from outside to trigger riots in the state.