Calcutta High Court reserves order on extending CAPF stay in Murshidabad, state claims situation under control

The state government also submitted before the court that adequate steps have been taken by the police and administration to quell the violence in the district.

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Thursday reserved its order on the continuation of central forces in violence-hit Murshidabad district of West Bengal.

The court suggested that a three-member panel, comprising one member each from the National Human Rights Commission, the West Bengal State Human Rights Commission and State Legal Services Authority, should visit the affected pockets of the district to oversee the restoration of peace and rehabilitation of people displaced due to the violence.

A division bench of Justices Soumen Sen and Raja Basu Chowdhury heard a petition moved by the Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, who claimed that bomb blasts took place during communal riots in the Muslim-majority district and prayed that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) be handed over the probe into the violence.

Another petitioner prayed for steps by the state government for the return of people displaced by the violence to their homes.

The lawyer appearing for the Centre prayed before the court that deployment of CAPF (central armed police forces) in Murshidabad be extended considering the sensitivity of the ground situation in the district.

Around 17 companies of central forces currently remain deployed in the trouble-torn pockets of Suti and Samserganj-Dhulian in the district.

The high court had on Saturday ordered deployment of CAPF in the district for restoration of peace.

While making its submission before the court, the West Bengal government placed a report and claimed that the law and order situation in Murshidabad currently remains under control.

The state also submitted that some of the affected families have already returned to their homes.

Several people have taken shelter in a school-turned-relief camp in the adjoining Malda district after escaping the violence that took place during anti-Waqf (Amendment) Act protests in Murshidabad in the past few days, the petitioner claimed.