Murshidabad violence: West Bengal police were inactive, says HC-appointed panel
The police were ' completely inactive and absent ' during the communal violence that broke out in West Bengal's Murshidabad in April, a three-member fact-finding committee appointed by the Calcutta High Court to investigate the unrest has found, The Indian Express reported on Tuesday.
The committee's report, based on the testimony of those affected by the violence, stated that the police failed to respond to distress calls from residents. It also mentioned that Trinamool Congress leader Mehboob Alam was present at the site of the violence, The Hindu reported.
Violence broke out in Murshidabad on April 11 and 12 during protests against amendments to the Waqf Act passed by Parliament on April 4. Three persons were killed in the violence.
A waqf is an endowment under Islamic law dedicated to a religious, educational or charitable cause. Each state has a waqf board led by a legal entity vested with the power to acquire, hold and transfer property.
The Waqf Amendment Act curbs the authority of waqf boards and allows greater government control over them. Critics allege that the amended law violates the right to equality and the freedom to manage religious affairs.
The committee – set up by the division bench of Justices Soumen Sen and Raja Basu Chowdhury – comprises Joginder Singh, the registrar of the National Human Rights Commission, Satya Arnab Ghosal, member secretary of the West Bengal Legal Services Authority, and Saugata Chakraborty, registrar of the West Bengal Judicial Service.
Their report, dated April 27, was submitted to the bench earlier this week.
One of the persons affected by the violence told the fact-finding committee that masked men from Samserganj, Hizaltala, Shiulitala and Digri had taken part in the violence, The Hindu reported.
The report said that Alam came with the mob on April 11, according to the newspaper. It added that the next day, the Trinamool leader 'saw the vandalism and left'.
The committee quoted an affected person as saying that calls were made to the West Bengal Police at 4 pm on both Friday and Saturday, but there was no response.
The report mentioned that a mob destroyed a water bottle shop and took away around Rs 12,000 to Rs 13,000 from its cash box, The Indian Express reported. A shopping mall in Ward 12 was looted and shut down. In Ghoshpara, 29 shops were damaged during the violence. Around 113 houses were severely damaged in the village of Betbona, The Hindu added.
So far, there has been no official response from the Trinamool Congress or the West Bengal Police on the report. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had earlier called the violence 'a well-planned conspiracy'. Meanwhile, Trinamool Spokesperson Joy Prakash Majumdar told The Indian Express
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