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SC agrees to examine plea seeking CBI probe in murders of BJP supporters in WB
On a petition filed jointly by the widow and brother of the two slain BJP supporters, the top court sought a response from the West Bengal government regarding the murders and the status of the investigation conducted so far
The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to examine a plea for a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or by a special investigation team (SIT) into the killing of two Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) supporters allegedly by Trinamool Congress (TMC) workers on the evening the latter won the assembly elections on May 2.
On a petition filed jointly by the widow and brother of the two slain BJP supporters demanding a probe into the post-poll violence in the state, the top court sought a response from the West Bengal government regarding the murders and the status of the investigation conducted so far.
The bench of justices Vineet Saran and BR Gavai also issued notices to the Union government, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and National Commission of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, seeking their replies within a week. The court will take up the matter next on May 25.
Arguing for the petitioners, senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani called it a “serious matter” wherein two men, namely Avijit Sarkar (35) and Haran Adhikari (42), were brutally killed for having supported a particular political outfit while the state administration and the police encouraged their killings.
He pointed out that both the petitioners in this case; Avijit’s brother and Adhikari’s widow, were eye-witnesses to the murders and they now feared for their own lives after having experienced the complicity of the state government.
“I am praying for an independent probe by the CBI, or this court may even monitor the investigations after setting up a SIT. There has been total inaction by the state government in either preventing the murders or investigating them. Instead, the murders were encouraged by the state and the police stood silently while the supporters of the ruling party killed them,” contended Jethmalani.
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The senior lawyer also pleaded that the body of Sarkar must be preserved and its post-mortem be done by an independent team of doctors and be video-graphed to ensure evidence did not get destroyed.
The bench, however, told Jethmalani that it will wait for a response from the state government before issuing any order and that the notices were being issued to examine all his prayers.
The petition, filed through advocate Sarad Kumar Singhania, has stated that large scale violence was unleashed in the state at the behest of TMC while the state administration identified itself with the vengeful cause of the ruling political party and chose to turn a blind eye, leaving victims of these crimes remediless.
“The entire genocidal attacks are part of a well thought of political design of the party in power to take political revenge after declaration of results of assembly elections on May 2, 2021. There are series of such well-planned attacks with the active connivance, knowledge, support and at times participation of the local police under the instructions of the state government,” said the plea.
It narrated how Sarkar, who was the vice-president of a BJP-backed trade union, was killed on May 2 in Kolkata’s Sitala Tala Lane by a mob allegedly comprising 20 TMC supporters in front of his mother and other family members. Adhikari, who was a local booth worker at Sonarpur Dakshin, was attacked with bricks, sticks, spade, shovel at his home and brutally killed in the presence of his wife, minor son and his father, said the plea.
The petition claimed that there were as many as 22 people killed by the TMC workers after the assembly polls results whereas the law enforcement agencies were failing to function and acting as mute spectators at the instructions of the state government as their party cadres go on a rampage unchecked.
It has added that the role of chief minister Mamata Banerjee must also be investigated by an independent SIT since she has not only made inciting remarks in public during her election rallies, asking her party cadres to take revenge once the Central forces have left post-elections, but has also engineered and planned these series of offences, giving specific instructions to her party workers and supporters.
