The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday directed the West Bengal government to take all necessary steps to ensure that peace is maintained in all areas of the state during the festival season. The court said that it is the responsibility of the state government to ensure that people celebrate the festivals with full enthusiasm and without any disturbance.
A division bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmoy Bhattacharya gave this direction during the hearing on the petition of Subhendu Adhikari, leader of opposition in the West Bengal Assembly. The petition alleged that a day after Kali Puja, a mob attacked certain sections of people in Kolkata's Rajabazar and Narkeldanga, leading to tension in the area.
Advocate General Kishore Dutta, appearing on behalf of the state government, claimed that there is no truth in the allegations regarding conflict between people of different communities. Dutta argued that the law and order situation deteriorated due to the clash between two people and some police officers were also injured in the resulting violence. He said that at least six FIRs have been registered in connection with the incident and 23 people have been arrested.
The division bench directed the state government to file a report in this regard in the form of an affidavit by November 18. It asked the petitioner to file his counter affidavit by November 21, when the matter will be listed for next hearing. The bench directed that in the meantime, the State should try to take all necessary steps to ensure that peace is maintained in all areas during the festival season, especially in the areas mentioned in the petition.
The bench said that it is the festive season and Chhath Puja has started, after which Jagaddhatri Puja will be held in Chandannagar in Hooghly district neighboring Kolkata. He said, 'It is the responsibility of the state government to ensure that people celebrate the festival with full enthusiasm without any disruption.' It has also been alleged in the petition that at some places Durga Puja pandals and statues of gods and goddesses were attacked. It has been claimed that these attacks were carried out as part of a conspiracy to disrupt the security and integrity of India.
In the petition, a request has been made to hand over the investigation of the alleged incident to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). Advocate Bilvadal Bhattacharya, appearing for Shubhendu Adhikari, told the bench that the police have said that an attempt was made to create a false story on social media about the Narkeldanga incident and there was no attack on the black statue immersion procession in the area, as per That has been alleged. Bhattacharya said that the police said that tension had spread in the area due to a dispute between two people regarding bike parking.
