In the wake of the violence in Beldanga over a Bengal migrant worker’s death in neighbouring Jharkhand, the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday expressed concern over recurring instances of violence in Murshidabad district and advised the West Bengal government to utilise Central armed forces to prevent such incidents.
The Bench of Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Partha Sarathi Sen also directed the Murshidabad Superintendent of Police and District Magistrate to deal with an “iron hand” any possibility of violence.
While hearing two PILs – one filed by the main Opposition party, the BJP, and another by a resident of Beldanga, seeking deployment of Central forces in the district – the Bench directed the West Bengal government, as well as the Centre, to file an affidavit within 15 days.
“The State shall utilise the Central Forces so that no such recurrence takes place. Intelligent inputs should also be considered,” the High Court said.
The unrest in the Beldanga area of Murshidabad began on Friday, after the body of Alauddin Sheikh, 30, a resident of Sujapur Kumarpur gram panchayat in Murshidabad, was brought to his native village from Jharkhand. The protesters claimed that he was brutally killed in the neighbouring state.
In its order on Tuesday, the bench said the Central government, as per the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act, can order an NIA probe into such cases.
It also directed the Murshidabad administration to ensure life and liberty are protected. “It shall be the duty of SP (Superintendent of Police) and DM (District Magistrate) of
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Murshidabad to ensure life, liberty, dignity and property is protected. All effort to be taken to restore normalcy in the area,” the bench stated, adding that “any possibility of violence should be dealt with an iron hand and prevention must be the order of the day.”
During the hearing, the petitioner’s counsel, Billwadal Bhattacharya, sought immediate deployment of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Beldanga and an NIA investigation into the incident.
In his submission, Bhattacharya said, “…there was complete carnage, mass destruction of public property, railway property targeted… Police resorted to lathicharge. The SP claimed that on Saturday, the attack was preplanned. NH 12 and railway tracks were blocked for over five hours… When the National Highway is blocked, then North Bengal is cut off from South Bengal… This is a prevalent situation. Riots also took place last year and an interim order was given for the deployment of central forces.”
Bhattacharya further submitted that deployments were made in Jangipur and Dhuliyan areas in Murshidabad subsequently, but after the latest incident, there have been no deployments.
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Appearing for the state, Senior Advocate Kalyan Banerjee submitted that “already, five companies of central forces are deployed”. “Arrests have already been made… Already, five companies of central forces are deployed. The area is peaceful, businesses are running normally, and there is no panic in the area,” he added.
The court then observed, “The central forces are already there, and those forces can be deployed to ensure normalising the situation… If forces are short, then the central government to deploy forces for the shortfall.”
Referring to the deployment of the Border Security Force (BSF), Additional Solicitor General (ASG), Ashok Chakraborty, representing the Centre, submitted, “Instruction from DIG BSF states that BSF force was used for only less than two hours and not for patrolling for 24 hours, thus more violence is recurring. Out of the five companies, only one company was used.”
The ASG further stated that in Beldanga, the most disturbed area, there are five companies of the BSF. Eight companies of CRFP are deployed in Jangipur and four companies of BSF in Samshergunj, he added.
