A Calcutta High Court division bench headed by Acting Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam on Thursday handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) the probe into cases of violence in three pockets of Bengal during Ram Navami.
They were in Howrah's Shibpur, Hooghly's Rishra and North Dinajpur's Domkol.
The order followed a petition by BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, who sought an NIA probe, alleging persons of a community in these areas attacked Ram Navami rallies of common people.
Over the past few weeks, chief minister Mamata Banerjee repeatedly expressed her apprehension about such a development and alleged that the saffron ecosystem provoked tension for political gains.
The bench directed the state police to hand over relevant documents and video footage to the NIA with immediate effect.
Adhikari in his petition alleged that even after filing specific complaints, the police did not take action against the alleged perpetrators, who had “various weapons” in their hands.
Adhikari’s initial petition was about the incident at Shibpur in Howrah, but when it came up for hearing, incidents had been reported from Rishra and Domkal, hence the bench heard all the issues jointly.
Appearing for the state, advocate-general S.N. Mukherjee opposed the prayer. He said untoward incidents did take place in those areas, but the police had controlled the situation and that FIR-named accused had been arrested.
The bench ended the hearing of the petition of Ram Navami violence last Friday but adjourned its verdict. On Thursday, the court delivered its judgment in the Ram Navami case and handed over the probe to the NIA.
The division bench held: “The Hon’ble Supreme Court has time and again dealt with the issue under what circumstances observed investigation can be transferred from the state investigating agency to any other independent investigating agency like CBI.”
“It has been held that the power of transferring such investigation must be in rare and exceptional cases where the court finds it necessary in order to do justice between the parties and to instill confidence in the public mind, or where investigation by the state police lacks credibility,” it said, it added that keeping in mind "genuine apprehension" of violence during Hanuman Jayanti on April 6, the court had to direct a central agency to be deployed and the festival "passed off without any serious incidents".
The bench also held that "in the cases on hand, we prima facie find that there has been a deliberate attempt on the part of the concerned police not to register any offence under the provisions of the Explosives Substances Act". It said there was "mention about acid bottles" and hence "the procedure under Section 6(1) of the NIA Act should have been resorted to". Therefore, it concluded, this "is a fit case where the entire investigation should be transferred to the National Investigation Agency."
Adhikari hailed the order as a victory. Trinamul state general-secretary Kunal Ghosh said it was in line with the "plot" of the BJP and the Centre.
