No political violence in Bengal since May 9 : State govt tells Calcutta HC

Kolkata, May 10: The West Bengal government on Monday told a Calcutta High Court bench that there has been no post poll political violence in the state since May 9 and assured that all steps will be taken to ensure peace in future.

The five-judge bench directed that all steps be taken in this regard by May 17 and posted the PIL for hearing on May 18.

The PIL filed by lawyer petitioner Anindya Sundar Das raised the issue of violence taking place in various parts of the state after the state assembly elections in which the Trinamool Congress trounced BJP.

Appearing for the West Bengal government, Advocate General Kishore Dutta submitted before the court that no violence has been reported in the state from May 9 onwards. He assured the court that all possible steps will be taken by the state government so that there is no violence in the future as well.

Additional Solicitor General of India Y J Dastoor appearing for the central government submitted that the issue regarding post-poll violence was highlighted not by one political party, but by all of them.

He claimed that in a number of cases the complaints were not registered by the police stations concerned when approached and that there is no online mechanism available in West Bengal where a police complaint can be filed.

He said that number of complaints on post poll violence in the state have been received by the National Human Rights Commission, West Bengal Human Rights Commission, the National Commission for Women and National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

Dutta argued that the allegation by the additional solicitor general that the complaints filed to the police were not entertained, is false.

He said that he would seek instructions from the state government regarding availability of online mechanism for filing of complaints by any aggrieved person. The advocate general filed an affidavit before the court apprising it of the latest law and order situation in the state as per its earlier direction.

A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Arijit Banerjee on Friday had referred the PIL to the five-judge bench, which was constituted considering the importance of the complaint that life and liberty of the people in West Bengal is at stake.

The five-judge bench comprises of Justices I P Mukerji, Harish Tandon, Soumen Sen and Subrata Talukdar, besides Justice Rajesh Bindal. The PIL has claimed that life and liberty of the people are in danger due to the alleged inaction by the police.