West Bengal poll violence: Calcutta High Court says litigants making court a political battleground with multiple petitions

The Calcutta High Court Monday expressed displeasure over the multiple petitions filed before it regarding the violence that took place during and after the West Bengal Panchayat elections..A division bench of Chief Justice (CJ) TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya said the court isn't a political battleground and that none of the litigants must try to politicise matters before the court."Stop doing politics in this court please. Don't make this court a political battleground," the bench remarked.The bench also said that the High Court's functioning was affected due to multiple such cases filed in the last two months over the panchayat elections. "No work is going on in this court for the last two and a half months," he said.The bench was hearing a slew of petitions seeking repolling in thousands of seats alleging violence during and after the polls. The petitions alleged inaction on the part of the State Election Commission (SEC) and the State government. When the matter was being heard, an advocate appearing for one Jaydeep Mukherjee pointed out that the SEC and the State did not file their replies to his intervention application. The bench noted that Mukherjee had already filed a writ petition and then filed an intervention application with identical prayers. Irked by the same, the Chief Justice said advocates must avoid multiple litigation over one and the same issue."Are you trying to show your strength to us? You just cannot intimidate us like this is. Now either you withdraw your application or we will will impose exemplary costs payable within 24 hours. We will impose costs or you withdraw this petition. We will say you are a politician in our order and doing politics here," the CJ told the advocate. .Senior Advocate Guru Krishna Kumar, appearing for one of the petitioners, informed the bench that the affidavit filed by the SEC pursuant to the previous orders of the Court, was not satisfactory as it did not speak about the ground realities. He emphasised that even till date, violence continues to wreck various parts of the State. Advocate Priyanka Tibrewal, appearing as party-in-person, told the judges that she had received over 400 emails from citizens, who have been displaced due to the violence. "Women were physically molested, stripped etc and several persons have been displaced due the violence. They are not being allowed to enter their very homes. I have brought two women candidates, who were physically molested and even stripped on the eve of elections," Tibrewal submitted. Taking note of the submissions, the bench ordered the local police to escort such persons and ensure that they return to their homes safely and that peace is restored in the area. .Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Ashoke Kumar Chakraborty pointed out that the State government and the SEC are continuing their non-cooperation with the Union Home ministry. "Therefore, a decision has been taken to continue the deployment of central forces for 10 more days and withdraw the same in a phased manner. However, the SEC is yet to grant us the proper list of sensitive constituencies, where there are more chances of violence," the ASG submitted. To this, Advocate General SN Mookerjee, appearing for the State government, submitted that there has been proper coordination this time and assured the bench that the State has no problem with the continued deployment of central forces in the State. .Having heard the submissions, the bench ordered the State and SEC to file their replies in response to the supplementary affidavits filed by the petitioners.