West Bengal Forest Minister and senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Jyotipriya Mallick said on Friday that he was exploring legal options after his name was mentioned in the “list of notorious criminals” in the report on post-poll violence prepared by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) which was submitted to the Calcutta High Court. Apart from Mallick several other TMC leaders were also mentioned in the list.
Expressing his reservation at his name being mentioned in the list Mallick said that he was exploring legal options and will file a defamation suit if required.
“Let alone an FIR, if anyone can show that there is even a general complaint against me in any police station I will reward that person. I am exploring legal options and will file a defamation suit if required,” said Mallick.
An annexure of the report prepared by an inquiry committee of the NHRC also mentioned the names of TMC MLAs Partha Bhowmick, Saukat Molla, former MLA Udayan Guha and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee election agent in Nandigram Seikh Sufiyan under the “list of notorious criminals.”
NHRC in the scathing report slammed the TMC government over the issue of post-poll violence and claimed that there was police inaction and complicity in the state. It also stated that the situation showed “abject failure” of the state government.
Claiming that if the “worrisome trend” is not stopped then it may spread to other states, the report stated that this may very well be the “the death knell of democracy” in the country.
The NHRC recommended a CBI probe into “all heinous cases” such as murder, unnatural deaths, rape and grievous hurt and stated that they should be transferred to the central agency.
Reacting to the report West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that the BJP was using impartial agencies to settle political scores.
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