Hanuman Jayanti today: After Calcutta HC order, Bengal seeks central forces

West Bengal has been witnessing a spate of violence since last Thursday as clashes broke out in at least three districts – Howrah, Uttar Dinajpur and Hooghly – during Ram Navami processions. While the ruling TMC accused the BJP of “orchestrating” riots by holding Ram Navami processions, the Opposition party has accused the TMC government of failing to maintain law and order.

Welcoming the HC’s order, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee made an appeal for peace. “Tomorrow is Hanuman Jayanti. I will urge everybody to celebrate it peacefully. Bengal is the land of peace,” she said.

Welcoming the court’s order, BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh called it a setback for the Mamata Banerjee government. “The central forces will definitely help restore peace,” he said.

Earlier in the day, the Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya, while hearing a PIL filed by BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari seeking deployment of central forces in the state and NIA probe into Howrah clashes, ordered: “…Thus, what is to be highlighted is that “prevention is better than cure”. Therefore, the State police are required to take all the steps with the assistance of the paramilitary force or any other central force to prevent any untoward incident so that the public are not put to jeopardy.”

“The assistance of paramilitary forces will definitely help the state police in maintaining law and order… ensuring the general public that their safety and security will be taken care of,” the Bench said.

“The above directions shall be scrupulously complied with,” the court ordered and directed the Union government to take “expeditious steps” for the deployment of central forces on receiving the requisition request from the state government.

The HC also restrained political leaders from making any statement on Hanuman Jayanti festival “considering the sensitivity of the problem”.

Directing the police to make arrangements to prevent any untoward incident on Thursday, the HC said: “The police authorities are at liberty to restrict the number of participants in the procession so that the procession is taken out with religious fervour without any political affiliations. The police shall ensure that at all vantage points, barricades are erected and preferably a common route can be prescribed for the procession…”