Team looking into ‘human rights violations’ submits report to Governor

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

On Saturday, the delegation had gone to visit the clash-hit Rishra area in Hooghly district but had to return after the police barred them from proceeding citing prohibitory orders. A day later on Sunday, Reddy and his team were again stopped from visiting Shibpur in Howrah district where violence was reported during two Ram Navami processions.

Both Howrah and Chandannagar police commissionerate 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.

On April 2 (Sunday), clashes broke out between two groups in Hooghly district’s Rishra area, following which prohibitory orders were imposed and the internet was suspended for two-three days. The clashes broke out after similar incidents of violence were reported in Shibpur and Kazipara areas of Howrah district during two Ram

Navami processions on March 30 and 31.

On Tuesday, West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose visited the violence-prone areas of Rishra. After visiting the violence-affected 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, state government, political parties, media and the public will join hands to see that the mobocracy is rooted out from democracy.”