HC dismisses Bengal govt's plea; NHRC panel to probe post-poll violence

Observing that the Bengal governments progress in matters related to post-poll violence did not inspire confidence, the Calcutta High Court on Monday dismissed the dispensation's prayer for recall of an order that directed the NHRC chairperson to form a committee to examine cases of alleged human rights violations.

The state government had on Sunday moved the court seeking the recall of an order passed last week in respect of a bunch of PILs that was filed alleging displacement of people, physical assault, destruction of property and ransacking of offices owing to post-poll violence.

Dismissing the government's plea, a five-judge bench, comprising Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and justices I P Mukerji, Harish Tandon, Soumen Sen and Subrata Talukdar, observed, "The way the state was proceeding in the matter, which required immediate action, did not inspire confidence." It directed that whatever information the state "now wants to produce" with reference to the complaints, may be placed before the NHRC, which will be scrutinising all complaints along with the information supplied by the state and submit a report before the court. Appearing for the state, Advocate General Kishore Dutta submitted that the state was not given an opportunity to place complete facts before the court and claimed that the government had taken appropriate action on complaints.