PIL in Supreme Court seeks ‘free, safe, fair’ Bengal polls

Alleging that the violation of fundamental rights has reached its peak in West Bengal, a PIL filed in the Supreme Court Wednesday sought its intervention to ensure that the forthcoming assembly polls in the state are held in a “free, peaceful, safe and fair” manner.

The plea by Mumbai-based lawyer Puneet Kaur Dhanda sought directions to the Centre, the Election Commission and the West Bengal government for this and urged the court to direct the CBI to investigate the alleged killings of political activists and adversaries of Bengal’s ruling TMC.

The petition, filed through advocate Vineet Dhanda, also sought to draw the court’s attention to the attack on BJP president J P Nadda’s cavalcade in Bengal and requested it to direct the “Union Home Secretary and DGP, West Bengal to take strict action against errant senior officers involved in dereliction of duty in protection of” Nadda.

The plea alleged that the “continuous violation of fundamental rights, statutory rights and human rights in…West Bengal has reached its zenith and the state government and its police machinery is involved in such violations” and that “no steps to prevent such violation of fundamental, statutory and human rights is being taken by the state government…”

It claimed that “it is the state government and its machinery which is responsible for such brutal violation of rights in the State…” and added that the graph of “systemic killings” was on the rise in the state.

Dhanda urged the court to call for a detailed Action Taken Report and to direct the state police to ascertain the safety of opposition workers in the run up to the elections next year and if necessary, depute paramilitary forces to ensure this.