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It is also the petitioner's case that they were denied the right to be heard at the time of deciding the bail applications as no notice was issued to them before passing of the impugned order
An SLP has been filed before the Supreme Court of India by the family members of the victims of horrific West Bengal Post Poll Violence challenging the bail granted to two accused persons by the Calcutta High Court.
An interim prayer of granting stay on the impugned order granting bail has also been sought. It is the petitioner's case that they were denied the right to be heard at the time of deciding the bail applications as no notice was issued to them before passing of the impugned order, despite them being present as a de-facto Complainant in the previous bail hearings before the High Court.
A three-judge bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, MM Sundresh and Bela M Trivedi heard the petition on Tuesday and has tagged the same with a transfer petition filed by the CBI.
West Bengal Post Poll Violence occurred in the aftermath of the West Bengal Vidhan Sabha Election Results on 2nd May 2021.
The petitioners before court are eye-witnesses to the incident who state that attack on their family members was the very first incident in a long series of retributive and vengeful acts unleashed by party workers of the ruling political dispensation in the State of West Bengal against opposition party workers and supporters in the aftermath of the Vidhan Sabha Elections of 2021.
Filed through Advocate Shoumendu Mukherji, the plea submits that High Court has recorded grounds of the accused not being named in the FIR, not named in the statement under Section 164 of the CrPC before the Magistrate and no specific role assigned to the accused in the statement under Section 164 CrPC. High Court further noted that there is dichotomy in the statements of the two witnesses and there was no material brought on record to show that accused had threatened witnesses during trial.
"Despite the Petitioner’s repeated appeals, a fabricated and falsified narration of events was C registered as the FIR. Even though Petitioner No.1 had submitted names of 20 accused persons on the date of the incident, however the same was not considered by the Police. Such was the dilatory and deliberate efforts on part of the local Police to shield the culprits, that the Hon’ble High Court vide order dated 19.8.2024 in WPA (P) 142 of 2021 on the basis of a scathing report submitted by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on the reprehensible conduct of the local Police had deemed it fit to transfer the investigation in the present matter to the Respondent No.1 agency i.e. CBI along with other heinous incidents of murders and rapes....", the plea adds.
Throughout the trial, the petitioners have told the top court, that they have been threatened, intimidated, assaulted, physically molested by the relatives of the accused while they themselves were in custody.
"The Petitioners were even granted protection by the D Police and Central Forces under Court’s orders fearing threat to their lives, however despite such protection being given the attacks continued. The Petitioners have been threatened as recent as 10.8.2024 by the father of Respondent No.3 after passing of the impugned order. It is only a sign of things to come as the Respondent Nos 2 and 3 are known to influential persons in the ruling political dispensation and there is a clear threat to the Petitioners’ lives...", the SLP adds.
In this background, arguing that there is a likelihood that the attacks will continue with impunity, the SLP cites the settled law that when there is a high possibility of threat to the victims it is a just ground for cancellation of bail.
Case Title: Biswajit Sarkar vs. Central Bureau of Investigation and Ors.
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