Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, July 24: The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the High Court’s previous ruling and ruled in favour of transferring the investigation of cases relating to the Ram Navami riots in West Bengal to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), dealing a serious blow to Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal.
Citing the decision of the Calcutta High Court, the Supreme Court dismissed the Bengal government’s plea opposing the involvement of the NIA in the inquiry. The appeal was rejected as “inadmissible” in court by the panel consisting of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.
“We are not inclined to entertain the Special Leave Petition (SLP),” the bench noted.
Insisting that no explosives were used in the event, the West Bengal government strongly criticised the High Court’s decision to turn the case over to the NIA.
They said that Suvendu Adhikari, the head of the opposition in the Bengal Assembly, had filed a “politically-motivated” Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that served as the foundation for the high court’s decision.
Six First Information Reports (FIRs) alleging violent and explosive incidents were filed between March 30 and April 3 in four police stations in Bengal.
The NIA’s Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said before the bench that the six FIRs had already been investigated to see if they were connected to the Ram Navami occurrences.
He noted that their investigation supported the relationship between these FIRs and the Ram Navami procession when hazardous chemicals were reportedly utilized to commit acts of violence.
The High Court had ordered the state police to make sure that the NIA received all FIRs, papers, seized items and CCTV video within two weeks after receiving a copy of the judgment.
Mehta, however, asserted that the Bengal government has failed to give the NIA with relevant documents and proof on the instances, in spite of the High Court’s order.
Gopal Shankar Narayan, the legal representative for the Bengal government, refuted the accusations and said that no one was being protected from prosecution. He further stressed that the Bengal Police had detained people from various communities.
Chief Justice Chandrachud questioned whether the rejection of the accusations of the use of explosives during the Ram Navami procession could be taken seriously.
The attorney for the Bengal government stated that the court should determine how many people were hurt if explosives were actually used during the procession. He continued by saying it was regrettable not to believe the results of the state officials’ investigation.
The attorney also emphasised that just one of the six FIRs linked to the happenings during the four-day Ram Navami procession had an investigation ordered by the Calcutta High Court. However, the NIA had stated in its statement that it intended to look into each of the six FIRs.
