West Bengal Opposition Leader and BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari on Friday filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Calcutta High Court, requesting an investigation by the NIA and CBI into the incidents of violence that occurred in the state during the Ram Navami procession.
The petition was filed by Adhikary seeking the Central Armed Forces be deployed in the state’s most violent districts (Howrah and Uttar Dinajpur) to avoid any untoward incidents. The plea is expected to be heard before the Acting Chief Justice’s bench on Monday, i.e., April 3.
According to the petition, this year’s Ram Navmi celebrations were marred by violence due to communal flagrations by anti-social elements perpetrated on peaceful Ram Navami Processions in Howrah and Dalkhola (a town in the district of Uttar Dinajpur), as has been the trend in the State of West Bengal.
The petition submits that on March 30, when the Ram Navami Shobha Yatra, which was peacefully proceeding from Howrah Kazipara to Howrah Maidan, reached near Chara and PM Bustee, a war broke out at the hands of anti-social elements, who, despite due police permission granted to the organisers to conduct the said Shobha Yatra, were prepared in a premeditated manner to attack the procession.
“Although attacks by anti-social elements on Ram Navami processions are a yearly occurrence, the attack this year had crossed all limits of brutality. In the presence of the police, severe stone pelting began from the roofs upon the participants of the Shobha Yatra, and there is no doubt that it was a preplanned organised attack on the rally by the local anti-social elements of the area,” the plea submits.
According to the plea, officers were a mute spectator to the violence perpetrated by anti-social elements who pelted stones and threw petrol and alcohol bombs, injuring people participating in the Shobha yatra.
The plea, which accuses the attack of being state-sponsored, claims that the state of Bengal’s law and order situation has completely deteriorated and that the state government has failed to protect its citizens.
The plea further added that this pre-planned attack was intended to prevent Hindus from celebrating their festival, and that the incidents of violence point to a bigger conspiracy.
In light of this, Adhikary’s PIL request that the CBI undertake an impartial investigation into the larger conspiracy in order to identify the masterminds behind such attacks.
It has also been argued that, in accordance with the mandate of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act of 2008, since unlawful actions have occurred, hence the investigation is required to be done by the NIA.
