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The Calcutta High Court has directed the State of West Bengal to submit a status report/case diary in the incident of gruesome violence in Birbhum, where homes were set ablaze and 10 persons including women & children were killed by 2 pm tomorrow.

A bench of Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava and Justice Rishiraj Bhardwaj noted it is pertinent that the "truth comes out", while also ordering for taking adequate measures in protecting witnesses, to make sure that they are neither threatened nor influenced.
At the same time, the State was directed to ensure that the evidence on the spot remains intact issue, issue following directions.
1) State will immediately install video cameras with DVR having sufficient memory covering all angles of scene of occurrence and will do continuous recording until further orders.
2) The team from CFSL, Delhi is directed to visit the spot of incident and collect the necessary material for forensic examination without any delay.

Court ordered,

"Having regard to nature of the incident and its impact on general public as also considering the serious doubt expressed by the petitioners about fairness of investigation by the SIT, and also keeping in mind the object that the investigation should be thorough and truth should come out, though we at the first instance give an opportunity to the State to produce the case diary/ report about the investigation by tomorrow 2 PM"
 

The Calcutta High Court had taken suo moto cognizance of the horrific killing of 10 people in Rampurhat village in Birbhum district. The bench led by Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava today morning and had put up the matter for hearing at 2 PM.

Allegedly, following the killing of Trinamool Congress leader Bahadur Shaikh at Bogtui village in Birbhum district, several houses were set ablaze in Rampurhat early Tuesday in which eight people, including three women and two children, were charred to death.

As per a media report, Najira Bibi, one of those who managed to survive, told that, "we were sleeping and suddenly heard the sound of bombs ... the miscreants set our houses on fire. I managed to escape but don't know what happened to others in the family."

Taking note of the matter, in a video message posted on his official Twitter account, West Bengal Governor condemned the incident and tweeted, "Horrifying violence and arson orgy Rampurhat, Birbhum indicates state is in grip of violence culture and lawlessness. Already eight lives lost. [sic]"

However, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has allegedly responded to his comments by saying, "Your statements have political overtones supporting other political parties to browbeat the Bengal government".

It has also been reported that altogether 11 people have been arrested so far, and the West Bengal government has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Additional Director General (CID) Gyanwant Singh to probe the incident.