Bengal Violence: ‘Fact-finding’ panel meets Governor; CM says BJP sending probe teams, spreading fake news

“We have submitted our interim report to the Governor. He assured us that he will take the necessary steps. We are only giving importance to restoring normalcy in those areas,” former chief justice Reddy told mediapersons outside the Raj Bhavan.

“The administration is claiming that the situation is normal but they are stopping us from visiting the areas, saying the situation is still tense. What is the truth and what does the (state) government want to hide? We were ready to go there with police guards but that suggestion was also not accepted,” he added.

The “fact-finding” team’s visit to Raj Bhavan came hours after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the BJP of inciting violence during Ram Navami processions and alleged that the Opposition party was sending “fact-finding teams” to West Bengal and “spreading fake news”.

“All the accused who incited violence in Howrah on Ram Navami were from outside Bengal. The police hadn’t given permission for the procession… What is the need for BJP workers to carry out a religious procession with firearms? Why were those in the procession dancing with arms? What was the need of taking out rallies with bulldozers and tractors? Who gave these people permission to bring bulldozers and tractors to a rally? All the men who were part of the rally were from outside Bengal, some from Munger in Bihar. People from Bengal stay together, they don’t do danga (riots), they are cultural people,” the chief minister told mediapersons.

“A month before Ram Navami, all the planning for the violence was done at the BJP office. What is the need for a fact-finding team when normalcy has been restored?… Now that the situation is under control, the BJP is sending fact-finding teams, human rights teams, child rights teams, women rights teams and what not. They are telling the media to parrot BJP’s narrative and are busy spreading fake news,” she added.

The chief minister defended the police action, saying they acted in a “tactful manner” to end violence and that there was no “foul play” on their part.

On Saturday, the six-member team, led by Reddy, tried to visit Rishra but had to return after the police stopped them from proceeding ahead citing prohibitory orders. A day later, Reddy and his team members were again stopped from visiting Shibpur in Howrah district.

Both Howrah and Chandannagar police commissionerates said the team was stopped as prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPc were still imposed in the affected areas.

Apart from Reddy, the “fact-finding” team included IPS/IG state crime branch (retired) Rajpal Singh; former National Commission for Women (NCW) member and advocate Charu Wali Khanna; advocate and former National Human Rights Commission joint registrar (law) Om Prakash Vyas; senior journalist Sanjeev Nayak; and advocate and former consultant for National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and NHRC Bhavna Bajaj.

West Bengal Governor Bose had visited the clash-hit areas of Rishra last Tuesday. After visiting the Rishra, the Governor said, “Bengal has been suffering from such criminal incidents in politics for a long time, we will put an end to this. The Centre, the state government, the political parties, media and the public will join hands to see that the mobocracy is rooted ou