Explosives frequently used in religious and political processions; State police fail to investigate properly: Calcutta High Court

Violence and use of explosives have become a regular feature in religious and political processions, the Calcutta High Court observed while transferring to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) the probe into the recent violence that broke out in Howrah and Dalkhola districts of West Bengal during the Ram Navami celebrations [Suvendu Adhikari vs State of West Bengal]. .A division bench of Acting Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya noted that twelve such violent incidents have taken place in West Bengal since April 2021 wherein explosives and deadly weapons were used by miscreants. "The use of explosives substances, hurling of bombs during processions, rallies and religious ceremonies have been occurring and recurring regularly and in all such cases investigation has been transferred to NIA," the bench observed..It further noted that the probe in at least eight such cases have been transferred to the NIA owing to the failure of the State police to properly investigate the violence instances."Probably the state police having been directed by this Court in more than 8 orders to transfer the matter to the NIA, in the present incidents they have under played the true state of affairs which in our view should not be permitted," the bench underscored.It prima facie found that as regards the present incident, there was a deliberate attempt on the part of the police to not register any offence under the provisions of the Explosives Substances Act. It noted from the police report and also the statements of some witnesses that there were mentions of use of acid bottles. Therefore, the State Police should have necessarily sought NIA intervention as the offence under the scheduled Act was committed, the Court ruled."Therefore, we are convinced that no useful purpose would be served by directing the state police to register cases under the Explosives Substances Act or under any other scheduled act as the matter has travelled beyond the said stage and it is a fit case where the entire investigation should be transferred to the NIA," the bench held..Further, the bench noted that there was large scale damage to property and also several persons sustained severe injuries during the incident. However, the police report indicated material seized such as glass bottles and sticks and other weapons.Therefore, there is a serious doubt on the very seizure report when there was a specific complaint made on April 3, 2023 that bombs were hurled and people were injured badly. "It is not clear as to why the police have not registered any offence under the provisions of the Explosives Substances Act. Thus, the question would be as to whether the state police have purposely failed to register any offence under any of the scheduled enactments fearing that the matter will have to be transferred to the central agency for investigation and further action. This would be a good reason for the court to transfer the investigation to a central agency," the bench opined..The bench was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari seeking an NIA probe into the violence that broke out in Howrah and Dalkhola districts and even some parts of Hooghly during the Ram Navami celebrations..Advocates Soumya Majumder, Srijib Charkarborty, Anish Kumar Mukherjee and Suryaneel Das appeared for Suvendu Adhikari.Advocate General SN Mookherjee along with advocates Anirban Ray, Md TM Siddique, Amitesh Banerjee, Nilotpal Chatterjee, Avishek Prasad, Debashis Ghosh and A Pandey represented the State.Additional Solicitor General Asok Kumar Chakraborty and advocate Sukumar Bhattacharya represented the Union of India.Deputy Solicitor General Billwadal Bhattacharya and advocate Debasish Tandon represented NIA.Deputy Solicitor General Dhiraj Trivedi and advocate Shailendra Kr Mishra represented CBI..[Read Judgment]