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regular-article-logo Tuesday, 10 December 2024

Sitalkuchi firing: Pleas for judge probe

The two advocates also demanded adequate compensation for the kin of the four youths killed in the incident

Our Bureau Calcutta Published 13.04.21, 01:28 AM
Calcutta High Court

Calcutta High Court File picture

Two advocates filed separate petitions before Calcutta High Court on Monday, seeking a probe by a sitting judge of the court into CISF firing outside a polling booth in Cooch Behar district on Saturday and adequate compensation for the kin of the four youths killed in the incident.

A bench of chief justice T.B.N. Radhakrishnan is likely to hear within a couple of days the petitions filed by advocates Ravishankar Chattopadhyay and Firdous Shamim of the high court.

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The petitions described the firing as a heinous crime and demanded a thorough inquiry by a sitting high court judge, who would identify the responsible persons and restrain the Election Commission from providing them with duties in the remaining four phases of Assembly polls in Bengal. The duo demanded adequate compensation for the nearest kin of the four killed in the firing.

The Trinamul Congress on Monday filed a complaint with the Election Commission against four prominent BJP leaders for their comments on the Sitalkuchi firing. The ruling party said the provocative speeches by the BJP leaders were aimed at inciting violence in the next phases of the polls.

Trinamul leaders led by Derek O’ Brien, Sudip Bandopadhyay and Sukhendu Sekhar Roy lodged the complaint with the chief electoral officer of Bengal. They demanded strict action against the BJP leaders, including state party president Dilip Ghosh, and a ban on their campaign in the next four phases.

In the complaint, Trinamul detailed what BJP leaders like Sayantan Basu, Dilip Ghosh and Rahul Sinha had had said about the Sitalkuchi incident.

“Shockingly, instead of condemning the act of violence of CAPF of murdering four innocent people, top brass of BJP has been actively condoning the murder and brazenly suggesting that more innocent lives should have been lost at the hands of the CAPF…...statements as above clearly evidences that the violence at Sitalkuchi was sponsored by the BJP and executed by the CAPF,” the complaint by Trinamul Congress reads.

A representation of the Sanjukta Morcha, the Left-Congress-ISF alliance, also met the CEO and asked him to take immediate action against Ghosh for his remarks.

“The way provocative speeches are being given (is worrying)...If they are spared, the impartiality of the Election Commission will be questioned. They shouldn’t be spared,” said Left Front chairman Biman Bose.

Bose was accompanied by Rabin Deb of the CPM, Pradip Bhattacharya and Abdul Mannan of the Congress, and ISF leader Naushad Siddiqui.

The leaders also said the Election Commission’s attempt to justify the Sitalkuchi incident was “unacceptable”.

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