The state of West Bengal has plunged into an atmosphere of mass violence since Sunday – the day the incumbent Trinamool Congress came back to power. Ever since, goons and miscreants in the state have been allegedly killing BJP workers, destroying BJP-inclined households and businesses and setting BJP offices on fire. This, while the state machinery and police stand as mute spectators to the entire carnage unfolding before their eyes. Alleging the complicity of the state administration in the ongoing violence, an application has now come up before the Supreme Court of India seeking a CBI investigation into the post-poll violence.
Senior advocate and BJP leader Gaurav Bhatia Tuesday moved the Supreme Court seeking CBI investigation into “rampant violence” including murder and rapes being conducted reportedly by Trinamool Congress party workers across West Bengal “before, during and after the assembly elections”. “The instant application is being preferred…to bring to the notice of this court, the brutal murders and commission of serious crimes like rape and molestation, blatant violence and the complete breakdown of law-and-order machinery in West Bengal before, during and after the recently concluded assembly elections in the state,” Bhatia said in his plea.
BJP Spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia also demanded that a status report be filed by the State of West Bengal on FIRs filed, arrests made against perpetrators of crime. @gauravbh #SupremeCourt #MamataBanarjee @BJP4Bengal @BJP4India #WestBengalViolence pic.twitter.com/5OfDVImlqn
— Bar and Bench (@barandbench) May 4, 2021
The application filed by the BJP leader demands, “As per media reports, this violence is seeking revenge against the citizenry of the State which has exercised its democratic right of voting for a party other than TMC. That the perpetrators of crime should be booked and punished in accordance with law are being protected by the ruling dispensation.”
Importantly, this is an intervention application filed by Bhatia in his pending 2018 PIL concerning the political murder of BJP worker Dulal Kumar and has now sought a direction to the state government to file a detailed status report about the FIRs registered, arrests made, and steps taken against perpetrators of violence. “The TMC has dehumanised its political opponents, specifically targeting BJP and its members and workers branding them as fascists and bigots,” the application adds.
It would be interesting to see if the Supreme Court decides to step in and take a stride to ensure that justice is delivered to the thousands of BJP workers and supporters reportedly being hounded in West Bengal. In the absence of the Supreme Court, there is really no other institution, which can help such individuals avail justice. A CBI enquiry must be initiated into the political violence underway in West Bengal, and perpetrators must be brought to the book. A CBI investigation is necessary to find out why it is only West Bengal where such targeted killings of opposition party workers, supporters and leaders occurs.