A six-member fact-finding team led by former Patna High Court Chief Justice Narasimha Reddy on Sunday alleged that West Bengal Police allowed the violence to go on during a Ram Navami Shobha Yatra (march) in the Hooghly district.
The interim report of the Fact-Finding Committee headed by Justice L Narsimha Reddy said that the “riots were pre-planned, orchestrated and instigated.”
Retired Patna High Court Justice L Narasimha Reddy said, “There was a concerted effort to attack the Ram Navami procession. The rally started peacefully. At certain localities, police deployment was there. Once the rioters started throwing stones, the police coolly walked away. At residential localities, rioters entered forcefully entered places and broke the glass windows of the residents of the particular section who were busy celebrating Ram Navami.”
While addressing the media, former Justice Narasimha Reddy further said, “We are not allowed to visit violence-hit areas. Even in areas where they have not implemented Section 144, we are not allowed to go. I think the police department knows that after visiting those places we will get to know what exactly happened there. We are not allowed to meet victims. No one from the police is answering our calls. We feel that police did not take any action in stopping the recent violence and allowed it to happen”. He further stated that police in West Bengal are acting like dictators in this incident.
“Recently in Telangana, a Member of Parliament was arrested. Afterwards, many people told me that Telangana Police was acting like West Bengal Police. The way police have treated us today shows that the comparisons were right. Police are acting like dictators and nowhere in the country, this kind of dictatorship can be witnessed. Police are busy promoting the agenda of one party”, he added.
Another member of the NHRC Fact-Finding team Charu Wali Khanna mentioned that the fact-finding team would restrategise to meet victims.
“They are afraid of us. We will restrategize our approach to meeting victims. Police officials are not giving us an appointment,” she told ANI.
In a similar incident, several vehicles were set on fire after two groups clashed amid Ram Navami celebrations. During the procession, the rioters vandalized public and private properties and set vehicles on fire.
In this regard, BJP MLA Biman Gosh had written to the Union Home Minister Amit Shah and West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose seeking their intervention and the deployment of central forces in West Bengal after the violence erupted in Hooghly during Ram Navami celebrations.
- With inputs from ANI
