Plea in Supreme Court urges appointing SIT to probe violence in Bengal over Waqf Act

New Delhi: A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court with regard to violent protests in West Bengal's Murshidabad district against the Waqf (Amendment) Act, wherein three people were killed.

Lawyer Shashank Shekhar Jha urged the apex court to form a special team to investigate the violence and the deaths and supervise this investigation.

The Supreme Court must seek an explanation from the state government regarding the poor law-and-order condition, and also take steps to save lives and prevent further violence, the petitioner said.

In the writ petition, Jha made the West Bengal government and the Union government as respondents.

The petitioner also sought compensation for the victims' families.

He sought urgent attention and direction from the top court against the alleged rioters who have illegally unleashed the violence in the state of West Bengal resulting in people at large getting assaulted, murdered, their property being destroyed, religious structures of Hindus being vandalised.

"People are forced for exodus from West Bengal state because of their political affiliation and religious identities. The said incidents are violating Article 14 (Right to Equality), Article 19 (Freedom of Speech and Expression), Artice 21 (Right to life), and Article 25 (Freedom of conscience and the right to freely profess, practice and propagate religion) of the Indian Constitution," his plea said.

Jha said that the court must take immediate steps to protect the life of people and prevent further escalation in Murshidabad and other affected areas, if any, in the state of WB.

"The magnitude of the violence is so rampant in West Bengal since past one week that it would have been difficult to approach the concerned government authorities in such time. The matter is of grave concern which requires immediate intervention of this court. Therefore, it isn’t logical & feasible to move the concerned governments for immediate and effective relief," Jha said in his petition.

The petitioner alleged that the sitting minister Siddiqullah Chowdhury has allegedly threatened to bring West Bengal to a standstill in protest against the Waqf Bill. He claimed he could mobilize 10,000 people at 50 locations to block traffic across city.