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“The spate of violence shows a pernicious politico - bureaucratic - criminal nexus. Criminals indulged in violence against political rivals while the bureaucratic edifice was complicit in various degrees.”

NHRC Committee which was constituted by the Court on June 18, 2021, submitted its final report before the Calcutta High Court on July 15.

Report begins with the synopsis of committee’s findings stating,

“The spatio-temporal expanse of violent incidents in the State of West Bengal reflect the appalling apathy of the State Government towards plight of victims. This was retributive violence by supporters of the ruling party against supporters of the main opposition party.  It resulted in disruption of life and livelihood of thousands of people and their economic strangulation. The local Police has been grossly derelict, if not complicit, in this violence.”

Further highlighting the severity of the situation in West Bengal the report states that,

“Violence was retributive. It was in retaliation to those who "dared" to vote or support the major opposition party. Victims were helpless and hopeless due to the torture and trauma. To add to the indignity were reports of instances where heads were tonsured or public apologies were made for having "erred" in supporting the major opposition party.”

Apathy of the West Bengal Government:

The report findings hint towards the need of immediate actions to be taken to tackle the prevailing anarchy in West Bengal by stating that the continuation of violent incidents and non-amelioration of related issues for nearly two months manifests the immensity of the problem and the abject failure of the State Govt.

The report discusses in detail over the present situation of the State highlighting the apathy of the State Government under many heads namely, (1) Nature of violence; (2) Disruption of life and livelihood; (3) Continuing trauma and (4) Prevalent fear; (5) Loss of faith in Police; (6) Complicity of Police; (7) Inadequating Policing etc.

The most disturbing finding of the report is ‘apathy of senior echelons’. The report states that people were left on their own to protect their human rights, including basic rights to life and food and livelihood.

“Victims complained of apathy of the State administration and alleged that the Govt. and senior Police officers had not taken any strict action against any district SSPs/DCPs or I/Cs of Police stations where large no. of incidents had taken place and gruesome and ghastly incidents of murders and gang rapes occurred as reported in various petitions. State administration did not provide any relief or ex gratia, even though such measures are routinely adopted in this state when people suffer for other reasons” the report states.

Highlighting the non-cooperation of the State Government the committee found out that although the Calcutta High Court had directed the State Government to make all arrangements for the committee when it visits the affected areas, incident of obstructions by goons were reported by the committee members.

Major Findings:

From 24th June to 10th July, the NHRC team covered a large number of affected places in throughout the State. The Report states that according to its master data, it received a total of 1979 complaints from various districts of the State regarding violence related incidents.

However, the report states that after sending many reminders to provide data of the reported incidents, the Government of West Bengal finally responded in a piecemeal manner and different districts have given information through digital mode (E-mail and Google link). Still the received from the Chief Secretary of West Bengal till date is not complete despite sending three reminders

A large number of complaints were received during the camp sittings, through email and mobile numbers given through a press release at the time of visits. Overall speaking the Committee received around 1979 complaints/petitions covering over 15000 victims from the various sources.

The report highlights that It shows that very large number of complaints have been received from districts Cooch Behar, Birbhum, Purba Bardhaman, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas and Kolkata while within the administrative districts the most affected Police districts are Baruipur PD,Bashirhat PD, Barrackpore PC and Diamond Harbour PD.

Noting that The Inquiry Committees of Police Stations have not even visited the places of many of the violent incidents, nor collected any evidence or recorded statements, let alone registering FIRs, the report states that It is quite evident that Police is working under influence and in a biased manner and do not have the courage to take action against looming goons belonging to the ruling dispensation.

The report showcases how the percentage of accused arrested out of those cited and the percentage of accused who are still in custody is abysmally low. The report’s data reflects that out of 9,304 accused cited in the FIRs, only 1,354 (14 %) have been arrested and, out of these arrested, 11086 (80 0/s) are already on bail. Thus, overall speaking, less than 3% of the accused are in jail, while 97 % are out in the open, making a mockery of the whole system.

About the action taken by the State Government upon receiving these complaints, the report submits that after the Hon. High Court's judgment dated 2nd July 2021, around 1893 complaints (which includes initial 582 complaints sent earlier) received through various means in the NHRC and before the Enquiry Committee were sent to DGP West Bengal to take necessary action as per the directions of the Hon. High Court.

However, later upon enquiry of the same DGP West Bengal revealed that till date only 137 FIRs are registered  which includes one FIR on Attempt to rape, four FIRs on grievous injury,  104 FIRs on arson/vandalism, 24 FIRs on criminal intimidation and 4  FIRs on other heads.

Also, according to committee’s ‘Spot Enquiries’ covering 311 spots over a period of ten days, in as many as 188 instances (60%), FIRs have not been registered by the Police at all. Even in the 123 cases where FIRS have been registered, in as many as 33 cases (27 %), Police have resorted to dilution by using milder sections of law.

Highlighting the extent of burking and minimization of crime across the state, the report states that for 123 cases registered by the Police, there were another 3057 (2869+ 188) number of complainants/petitioners/victims, whose cases were either not registered by Police or cases were diluted or Police was not accessible to them and therefore, they wanted NHRC teams to enquire into their issues.

Similar observations were made by the National Commission for Women and National Commission for Minorities who performed the spot enquiries.

The commissions also reported on the plight of the victims at visited places as the down trodden people were found living miserable life, everything from the house was looted including food, stove, utensils, etc. It was also noted that by them that in most of the cases the Police was informed but they did not S take any action rather the reporting of the case was intimated to the Ruling party local leaders by the Police that was causing more distress and misery to the lives of victims.

Recommendations:

Stating that Delay in decisions may compel helpless victims to compromise with the situation, the Committee has recommended that grievous offences like murder, rape, etc., should be handed over to CBI for investigation and these cases should be tried outside the State.  The other cases should be investigated by a court monitored SIT.  For adjudication, there should be fast track courts, Special PP and Witness Protection Scheme. The recommendations also include ex-gratia payment, compensation for damages, measures for reinstatement and rehabilitation, static pickets of CAPF, protection to women, action against delinquent Government servants etc.