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The Calcutta High Court has reserved its order in a batch of petitions arising out of the incidents of violence that took place in the State as a result of the alleged remark made by Nupur Sharma pertaining to Prophet Mohammad.

The bench took note of the report submitted by the West Bengal Government informing it that there has been no incident of violence in the last two days.

The development has taken place in a batch of petitions wherein, one of the petitions stated that the police was standing as a mute spectator as the BJP party offices had been burnt, thus it urged the court to pass directions to deploy paramilitary forces. Another plea claimed that the National Highway No.6 was blocked for several hours and there was a complete failure of the State Police in responding to the situation. It further alleged that there was a complete failure of State Intelligence and argued that suspension of the internet does not prevent such activity.

The State report submitted that 218 people have been arrested in relation to the incident of violence on June 9. In addition to this, Advocate General SN Mookherjee informed the bench that the report covers incidents that happened at 10 places.

One of the pleas before the High Court alleged that the State is not in a position to control the situation, therefore, Central Force should be deployed.

Whereas, earlier, the Advocate General submitted before the court that the incident took place because of the unfortunate remarks made by two persons. He argued that similar protests are going on in other states like Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, and Jharkhand.

The AG also informed that a sudden protest took place, therefore, State Authorities were taken by surprise. He apprised the court that the State has registered 26 FIRs as of June 10 and has arrested 240 persons. Prohibitory orders have also been passed and internet services were/have been suspended in District Howrah and Beldanga, Rejinagar, and Saktipur in Murshidabad District, he told.

However, the High Court had directed the State to collect the video footage of the incident so that the miscreants can be identified and appropriate action can be taken against them. The Advocate General was asked to take a clear stand of the State on the issue of grant of compensation to those who have suffered loss of property in the untoward incidents.

Case Title: Niladri Saha Vs. The State of West Bengal and others & Connected matters

Inputs: The Free Press Journal