POST-POLL VIOLENCE: BENGAL WON’T BE GIVEN ANY MORE TIME AFTER 31 JULY, SAYS HIGH COURT

West Bengal government has asked for more time to read the report of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) at the court hearing. But a larger bench of the High Court said that no more time would be given after 31 July. The NHRC alleged that the police is pressuring them to drop the case in many places. The case is set to be heard again on 2 August.

The state had earlier filed an affidavit in the case. It filed an additional affidavit at the hearing of the case on Wednesday. The state government claims that they need more time to read the NHRC report. The state will read the report and submit the affidavit again.

Mahesh Jethmalani, a lawyer for late Abhijit Sarkar, said, “Why is the state asking for extra time? If time is given, the evidence will be lost. Police is trying to cover up. The state has given them the answer. Then why give time?” On the other hand, Priyanka Tibrewal said that there was a need to form a ‘seat’ in this case. A larger bench headed by the Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Jindal said, “The state will be given time till 31 July to file additional affidavits. It will not be given more time.”

Subir Sanyal, the advocate representing NHRC, told the court on the same day, “Even after the report was submitted, many allegations were found. Of these, 17 are allegations that police or local leaders are pressuring them to drop the case.” But the larger bench did not allow that. Additional Solicitor General YJ Dastoor presented the DNA report of the deceased Sarkar to the court on the same day. He was reportedly killed in post-poll violence.

On the other hand, the lawyers have demanded to boycott the sitting of the Acting Chief Justice. They decided to boycott all the cases before the Acting Chief Justice. There were many of these lawyers who are questioning the post-vote violence case. So the question arose as to whether the case would be heard or not.

Lawyer Saptangshu Basu said that he will plead for TMC leaders Partha Bhowmick and Jyotipriya Mallick. However, they wanted the case to be adjourned till Monday.

Public interest litigant Priyanka Tibrewal said, “The people of the state have been suffering from post-election violence for three months. This hearing is very important for them.”