Former Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court Manjula Chellur will oversee the functioning of a special investigation team (SIT) formed by it to probe alleged post-poll violence cases other than rape and murder, a five-judge bench of the HC said on Friday. In its judgment last month, the court had ruled that the SIT, comprising of senior police officers of West Bengal, would be supervised by a retired Supreme Court judge. However, the bench headed by Chief Justice (Acting) of Calcutta High Court Rajesh Bindal said on Friday that as no retired SC judge was available to take up the job, Justice (R) Chellur was appointed for the role.
The bench had, in its judgment on August 19 on a batch of PILs seeking an independent inquiry into incidents of violence after the assembly elections in West Bengal, directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe all alleged cases of heinous crimes like rape and murder. The agency has already started visiting various districts in Bengal and has submitted its first chargesheet in the matter. The CBI has also made arrests in post-poll violence incidents in Nadia and North 24 Parganas. The High Court ordered the CBI and the SIT to submit their status report before it within six weeks from August 19.
Violence in West Bengal after the April-May assembly elections has become a flashpoint between the victorious Trinamool Congress and its chief rival, the Bharatiya Janata Party. BJP leaders and supporters in the state have been alleging that many party workers have been killed, raped, assaulted brutally and their houses set on fire. They have accused TMC cadres of carrying out the attacks and alleged that the police were not doing anything to provide them protection. The Bengal government has said in response that the Election Commission was in charge of law and order when the post-poll violence broke out.
The HC has directed that any report(s), pleadings, or applications will be filed in the court only by and under the signatures of the head of SIT, the idea being to inspire confidence regarding the independence of the system being followed for the investigation of cases.
The SIT includes Suman Bala Sahoo, Soumen Mitra and Ranveer Kumar, all IPS officers of the West Bengal cadre. The bench had directed that the team would be entitled to take the assistance of any other police officer or any institution or agency for carrying out a fair investigation into the cases. The Mamata Banerjee government has appointed ten IPS officers to assist the SIT. It also moved the Supreme Court this week against the HC order of a CBI inquiry, saying it doesn’t expect a fair probe by the central agency.
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