[Post Poll Violence] West Bengal govt moves Calcutta High Court for recall of July 2 order issuing contempt of court notice to South Kolkata DCP

The West Bengal government has approached the Calcutta High Court seeking recall of an order passed by the High Court on July 2 in the case concerning post poll violence in the State..By way of the July 2 order, the High Court had issued show cause notice for contempt of court proceedings against Deputy Commissioner of Police of South Kolkata, Rashid Munir Khan for allegedly failing to prevent obstruction to the team of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) which was visiting Jadavpur to examine allegations of post poll violence. .The government, in its recall application, submitted that the order was based on an interim report by the NHRC and the State has not even been given a copy of the same. The observations of the Court in the July 2 order were made without given an opportunity to the State to respond to the contents of the NHRC's interim report, the plea said."The applicants being unaware of the interim report could not advance any arguments before the special bench on findings which are based on the interim report," the recall application said. .The State government maintained that its officers have responded to queries raised by the NHRC officials and have not concealed anything. .A five-judge Bench of the Calcutta High Court headed by Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal had passed the July 2 order in a batch of cases alleging violence in the State after the All India Trinamool Congress had swept to power in the State in the 2021 assembly elections.The High Court had, on June 18, ordered the Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to constitute a committee to examine complaints by persons displaced by post poll violence in West Bengal.Pursuant to the same, the NHRC had constituted a 7-member committee which had visited various parts of West Bengal before submitting an interim report to the Court.The Court considered the interim report on July 2 before passing the order. The Court in its order had also directed a second post mortem to be conducted with respect to BJP worker Avijit Sarkar, who was allegedly killed by a mob in the wake of the post-poll violence in the State.Court called for medical treatment to be provided to those who suffered as a result of the alleged violence..The West Bengal government submitted in its recall application that the findings in the interim report are required to be supported by evidence and reasons which the State is still unaware about. Hence, it was prayed that adverse observations against the State in the order should be expunged and the State should be given an opportunity to file its response to NHRC's interim report.