Ram Navami Violence: Calcutta High Court transfers probe to NIA

The Calcutta High Court on Thursday transferred the probe into the recent violence that broke out in parts of the State amid this year's Ram Navami celebrations to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) [Suvendu Adhikari v. State of West Bengal]..A Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya ordered the West Bengal Police to hand over the case papers, evidence and all the seized material related to this case to the NIA, immediately. "We are of the considered opinion that no purpose would be served by directing the State Police to register cases against those, who used acid bottles and petrol bombs etc under the Explosive Substances Act. The matter has gone ahead and beyond that stage. Let the NIA probe now," the Court ordered..The Bench had reserved its orders on April 10 in this Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, who sought a thorough probe into the sudden violence that broke out between the Hindu and Muslim communities during the Ram Navami celebrations. He had also sought a probe by the NIA alleging that explosives were used in the violence. .During a detailed hearing that took place on April 10, the Bench had opined that the violence that broke out in Howrah and Dalkhola districts were prima facie "pre-planned.""Internet suspension usually takes place when there has been an external danger or infiltration etc. But for a religious procession, we don't understand why (internet was suspended). Sudden violence is when people are walking and there is an altercation etc. But your (State's) reports prima facie show these (violence) were all pre-planned. There are allegations of stones being hurled from rooftops. Obviously it is not possible for anyone to take stones up to the rooftop within 10 to 15 minutes," the ACJ had then observed. .The Court opined that the problem was two-fold, one is that there is a tension between two groups. The other, the Bench said, is that a third group may be taking advantage of the enmity between these two groups. "This needs to be probed. We believe a central agency can probe this aspect better. We need to identify this outside source. Somebody would have set the fire, set the ball rolling, so to identify that source, unless there is a central agency you cannot probe," the ACJ had remarked. .Besides the main petition, the Court also heard a plea filed by Advocate Priyanka Tibrewal, who had contested against Mamata Banerjee during the previous assembly polls on a BJP ticket. She sought action against the Chief Minister for allegedly instigating the violence by asking Hindus to "protect Muslims during their holy month of Ramzan." She alleged that Banerjee had divided West Bengal into a Hindu-Muslim State and had even sought orders to prevent her from making any public statement during festivals.