Measures taken by WB Government to control communal unrest were inadequate: Panel report A local councillor Mehbub Alam has been identified as the principal conspirator behind the violence A THREE-MEMBER committee of the Calcutta High Court probing the communal violence in Muslim-dominated Murshidabad district of West Bengal last month, in its report, has indicated total police negligence and indifference to bring the situation under control before the deployment of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF). Sources said that the three-member committee has highlighted the aspects of this police indifference in a report filed in the High Court’s special division bench of Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Raja Basu Chowdhury.

 

The bench had been specially constituted to hear the matters related to Murshidabad violence. The violence broke out in pockets of Murshidabad like Dhulian, Suti, and Samserganj on April 8, and finally, CAPF was deployed there on the night of April 12 following an order of the same special division bench on the same evening. WhileorderingCAPFdeployment on April 12 evening, the special division observed that themeasurestakenbytheWest Bengal Government to control communal unrest in Murshidabad over protests against the newly promulgated Waqf (Amendment) Act turning violent were inadequate.

 

The special division bench also observed that had the CAPF deployment been earlier,thesituationwouldnothave been so “grave” and “volatile”. Now,thecontentsofthefresh reportgivenbythethree-member committee are totally in linewiththeobservationmade by the division bench on April 12. In the report, a local councillor,MehbubAlam,wasidentified as the principal conspirator behind the violence, againstwhomthepolicedidnot act at the time of the violence. As per the report, all the attacksthatwerecarriedouton April 11 from 2 p.m. onwards wereledbyMehbubAlam,who himselfcametothespotofviolencealongwithmiscreantson that day, with the police doing nothing to act against them 

 

 

POLITICAL storm intensified in West Bengal on Wednesday after a report by a three-member committee of the Calcutta High Court exposed serious lapses by the State Police in containing the communal violence that erupted in West Bengal’s Muslim-dominated Murshidabad district last month. The BJP launched a scathing attack on the Mamata Banerjee-led Government, accusing it of shielding extremists and failing to protect Hindu families. Union Minister and West Bengal BJP President Sukanta Majumdar, addressing the media, said, “The committee’s findings point towards the involvement of local councillorMehboob Alam, MLAs, and other leaders of the ruling Trinamool Congress. Despite his role as a principal conspirator, the police failed to act against him during the violence.” “Mamata Banerjee had blamed outsiders for the violence,butthereportshowsotherwise. This clearly proves she was lying and must apologise to the people of Bengal,” Majumdar said.