HC Orders Court-Monitored CBI Probe Into WB Post-Poll Rape, Murder Cases

The Calcutta High Court on Thursday, 19 August, ordered a court-monitored CBI probe into cases of murder and crimes against women such as rape that took place during the West Bengal post-poll violence.

(Photo: Kamran Akhter/The Quint)

The Calcutta High Court on Thursday, 19 August, ordered a court-monitored CBI probe into cases of murder and crimes against women such as rape that took place during the West Bengal post-poll violence, reported Bar & Bench.

Three concurring, albeit separate, judgments were given by a bench of Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justices IP Mukerji, Harish Tandon, Soumen Sen, and Subrata Talukdar.

Observing that the ruling government cannot act in a discriminatory manner in a bid to suppress minority, the Calcutta High Court said that Bengal should hand over all records of cases to the CBI for the purpose of the investigation.

All other cases have been entrusted to an SIT for investigation, which will also be monitored by the court and will comprise IPS officers Suman Bala Sahoo, Soumen Mitra, and Ranbir Kumar.

The functioning of this SIT will be monitored by a retired judge of the Supreme Court, the court said, adding that a separate order on this would be passed later.

Both the CBI and the SIT have been directed to submit status reports within six weeks. Meanwhile, the state has been ordered to cooperate with CBI and the other authorities, LiveLaw reported.

The high court on Thursday also directed the state government to immediately process compensation for victims of the violence. It also rejected the allegations of bias raised by the government against the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), which had submitted a report on the violence to the high court as per orders.

What Else Did the High Court Say?

The court “outrightly” rejected the state government’s claim the the Election Commission (EC) was responsible for the violence due to enforcement of election code till 3 May, the court.

“There is nothing placed on record by the state that even normal law and order, and registration of criminal cases comes within the purview of EC. Constitutional obligations of the state do not get vested in the Election Commission during the process of elections.”

Pointing out that the constitution seeks to attain equality by protecting a party neutral civil service, the binding legal obligations on the administration, as well as the independence of judiciary, the court said:

“…problem arises when neutrality of civil service is compromised and when the state machineries failed to behave and function honestly, fairly and impartially.”

The court, also, however, stated that distrust in a particular government should not be confused with distrust in the Constitution.

Further, the court said that it can neither be a mute spectator nor stay apathetic to the voices of aggrieved persons and went on to talk about how the voice of dissent has to be heard and respected.

“In a democracy, voice of dissent has to be heard and respected.”

Justice Soumen Sen

Justice Soumen Sen also quoted Nani Palkhivala, from his book 'India’s Priceless Heritage':

“It would be hard to improve upon the sense of values which made ancient India so great. Our old sages judged the greatness of a State not by the extent of its empire or by the size of its wealth, but by the degree of righteousness and justice which marked the public administration and the private lives of the citizens.”

TMC, BJP React

In reaction to the Calcutta High Court verdict, Trinamool Congress leader Saugata Roy, was quoted by ANI as saying:

“I'm unhappy with the verdict. If in every law and order matter, which is entirely within the state government’s jurisdiction, the CBI comes in... it is a transgression of the rights of the state.”

Further, he added that he is sure the state government will judge the situation and take a call on whether there is a need to appeal in the high court.

The BJP, in the meantime, welcomed the verdict, with Union Minister Anurag Thakur reportedly saying:

“We welcome the court's decision. In a democracy, everyone has the right to spread their ideology, but no one's allowed to spread violence.”

Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal, Suvendu Adhikari also accused the TMC government of turning the state into “a laboratory of political violence”.

NHRC Report on Violence

In a report submitted in July, the NHRC had said that the post-poll violence in the state had "resulted in disruption of life and livelihood of thousands of people and their economic strangulation" and that the situation in the state is a manifestation of the "Law of Ruler", instead of "Rule of Law".

The report submitted to the court called out the "appalling apathy" of the state government and slammed the alleged violence by supporters of the ruling TMC against supporters of the BJP.

The NHRC had suggested that grievous offences, like rape and murder, be investigated by the CBI and tried in courts outside the state. It also recommended that the investigations of other matters should be conducted by a court-monitored SIT.

However, the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) government submitted an affidavit at the Calcutta High Court to refute the report submitted to the court, saying that the report "demonstrated bias" and had no power to suggest any probe.

(With inputs from ANI, Bar & Bench and LiveLaw.)