Top court agrees to consider plea linked to 2021 post-poll violence

The CJI-led SC bench also agreed to consider an application by an organisation — Sanatani Sangsad — that highlighted the violence in Bengal after the 2021 state polls and sought immediate constitution of a high-level monitoring committee under the chairmanship of a retired SC judge “to oversee the functioning of law & order machinery in the state of West Bengal”.

Appearing for the Sangsad, Senior Advocate V Giril pointed out that as per data received by the Enquiry Committee of the National Human Rights Commission from West Bengal DGP, during the period from May 2, 2021, to June 20, 2021, a total of 1,934 complaints were received, against which only 1,168 FIRs were registered. Though they named 9,304 people, only 1,345 were arrested.

“Therefore, only 2.88% of the accused were arrested and most of them are now free on bail. Several teams of the Enquiry Committee visited 311 spots for enquiries and ironically found that in 188 instances (60%), FIRs have not been registered by the police at all. Even in 123 cases where FIRs were registered, in as many as 33 cases (27%), police have resorted to dilution by using milder sections of law,” the plea said.

The bench recalled that the investigation in some of these post-poll violence cases were handed over to the CBI and asked the Sangsad to make the Central probe agency a party to its petition.