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New Delhi: The West Bengal government on Monday alleged before the Supreme Court that “shocking things” have happened in the state and cases, including those of dacoity, are being transferred to the CBI on a “large scale”.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the state, told a bench of Justices Vineet Saran and Aniruddha Bose that whenever it is alleged that the investigation is not being conducted impartially, the court takes into account the facts and then Transfers the case to CBI. Prima facie conclusion.
“In this case, the bulk of the cases were given to the CBI. Some of the most shocking things have happened. In one case, the man is alive. Meanwhile, the CBI is also probing the cases of robbery. All kinds of things are happening,” Sibal told the bench.
The top court was hearing a special leave petition filed by the state government alleging that it does not expect a fair and just probe from the central agency which is busy registering cases against office-bearers of the ruling Trinamool Congress party.
As soon as the hearing began, Sibal told the top court that it would take two-three hours to present the arguments but the bench said that due to paucity of time, it would not be able to hear the matter today and it would come up for hearing next week.
“List the first case on 28th September, 2021 with the concurrence of learned counsel for the parties. The parties are permitted to file the document/additional document till 24th September, 2021, after giving copy of the same on the other side,” The bench said.
Earlier, the state government had leveled allegations against members of a committee constituted by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to probe incidents of post-poll violence in the state.
The state government had said that panel chief Rajiv Jain served as the director of the Intelligence Bureau under the BJP-led government at the Centre.
It also said that “Jain was the Assistant Intelligence Bureau Chief in Ahmedabad from 2005 to 2008, when the Honorable Prime Minister was the Chief Minister of Gujarat.”
Another member was said by Sibal that Atif Rashid served as the BJP Minority Morcha in-charge of Delhi state and still tweets in support of the BJP.
“Can you imagine that these people have been appointed to collect the data? Is this BJP’s investigative committee my lords? Sibal had said.
Commenting on Sibal’s contention, the bench said, “If someone has a political past and if he rises to an official position by the same fact, will we treat him in a biased manner?”
Earlier, advocate Anindya Sundar Das, one of the PIL litigants whose petition was ruled by the High Court on August 19, had filed a caveat in the apex court urging that the state or other litigants be heard if they appeal. No order will be passed without it.
A five-judge High Court bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal had ordered a CBI probe into all alleged cases of heinous crimes in West Bengal after the assembly election results this year, in which the ruling TMC came back to power.
With regard to other criminal cases related to the post-poll violence, the High Court had directed that they be investigated by a special investigation team under the supervision of the court.
A division bench of the High Court, which also included Justices IP Mukherjee, Harish Tandon, Soumen Sen and Subrata Talukdar, observed that there were “definite and proven” allegations that there were no complaints from victims of violence after the West Bengal Assembly elections. Registered too.
While ordering the formation of an SIT to probe all other cases, it had said it would include all IPS officers of West Bengal cadre Suman Bala Sahu, Soumen Mitra and Ranveer Kumar.
It said, “As per the report of the committee, all the cases where the charges relate to murder of a person and attempt to rape/rape against women shall be referred to CBI for investigation.”
The High Court has directed the NHRC committee, constituted by its chairman on the directions of a five-judge bench, and any other commission or authority and the state to hand over the records of the cases to the CBI for immediate further investigation. .
The bench had said that it would supervise the investigation of both the CBI and the SIT and asked both the agencies to submit a status report to the court within six weeks.
It had said that the functioning of the SIT would be supervised by a retired Supreme Court judge, for which a separate order would be passed after obtaining his consent.
In its judgment, the bench had said that heinous crimes like murder and rape should be “investigated by an independent agency which in the circumstances can only be the Central Bureau of Investigation”.
The bench had said that the state has failed to register an FIR even in some cases of alleged murder.
It had said, “It shows a predetermined mind to steer the investigation in a particular direction.”
“In such circumstances an investigation by an independent agency would inspire confidence in all concerned,” it was noted.
It alleged that many cases were not registered by the police initially and some were registered only after the intervention of the court or the constitution of the committee was found correct.
It was observed that the facts are “even more clear” with respect to the allegations made in the PILs as the incidents are not isolated at one place in the State.
The NHRC committee submitted its final report to the court on July 13.
An interim report of the NHRC committee noted that Atif Rashid, a member of the committee, was prevented from discharging his duty and on June 29, some unwanted elements attacked him and his team in Jadavpur area on the southern edge of the city. members were attacked. , the court noted.
The PILs alleged that people were thrashed, ransacked from homes and property destroyed during the violence in the wake of assembly elections and demanded a fair probe into the incidents.
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