Kolkata: Allegations of rape, murder and crimes against women after the Bengal election will be probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Calcutta High Court said Thursday. Other criminal cases related to post-poll violence, will be investigated by a Special Investigation Team of the Bengal Police, of which Kolkata Police Commissioner, Soumen Mitra, will be a part, the court said.
A five-member bench headed by acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal was ruling on a clutch of petitions seeking an impartial probe into alleged post-poll violence in the state. The court had reserved its judgement during the hearing on August 3.
The court had earlier directed the National Human Rights Commission, or NHRC, to carry out a preliminary inquiry.
Last month the court, in its strongest remarks so far, told the state government it was in “denial mode”, and that the NHRC’s interim report indicated enough evidence to establish post-poll violence.
The NHRC report proved to be hugely controversial because it indicted Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her government, and accused them of “appalling apathy”.
It also backed a CBI probe into “grievous offences like murder and rape”, and called for such cases to be tried outside Bengal.
The NHRC claimed the situation then was a “manifestation of law of ruler instead of rule of law”, and that “local police has been grossly derelict, if not complicit, in this violence”; it said police failed to file FIRs for alleged rape and murder cases.