Report of the Enquiry Committee

Nátiofla.i Human Rights'.Cornmission

12.07.2021
 SYNOPSIS

• The situation in the State of West Bengal is a manifestation of "Law of

Ruler", instead of "Rule of Law."

S
• The spatio-temporal expanse of violent incidents in the State of West
• Bengal reflect the appalling apathy of the State Government towards plight of victims.

This was retributive violence by supporters of the ruling party against supporters of

• the main opposition party. It resulted in disruption of life and livelihood of thousands

S • of people and their economic strangulation. The local Police has been grossly derelict,

if not complicit, in this violence.

S
To compound the problem, violence and intimidation has continued.
• There is palpalable fear among victims against Police and goons of ruling party. Many

displaced persons have not yet been able to return to their homes and resume their

normal life and livelihood. There have been several sexual offences but victims are

f scared to speak out. Loss of faith in State administration among victims is very

evident.
•
• fS An alarming aspect of this violence amply figuring in public domain was

that it evoked no empathy in State Administration in any tangible manner.

• Neither

• senior officers nor political leaders condemned the violence, visited the spots,
I assuaged the victims or did anything substantive to ameliorate the problems. People

were left on their own to protect the violation of their human and fundamental rights,
•
• including right to life, liberty, dignified living and health.

The spate of violence shows a pernicious politico-bureaucratic-criminal

nexus. Moreover, this violence also attacked some pillars of democracy including Rule

of Law, Political Pluralism and Free, fair and secure polling.

5 4
 • The Committee has recommended that grievous offences like murder,

rape, etc., should be handed over to CBI for investigation and these cases should be

.• tried outside the State. The other cases should be investigated by a court monitored

• SIT. For adjudication, there should be fast track courts, Special PP and Witness

Protection Scheme. The recommendations also include ex-gratia payment,

• compensation for damages, measures for reinstatement and rehabilitation, static

pickets of CAPF, protection to women, action against delinquent Government servants,

f etc.

It is important that a Monitoring Committee should be formed to monitor

the implementation of orders of this Court. This Committee should be headed by a H

• retired Judge and should have independent officers as Observers in each of the

• affected districts.

This Report of the Committee comprises all the work done since its

• inception. The contents of its Interim Report dated 29.6.2021 have been suitably
.1 incorporated in this report; hence, the Interim Report may be ignored. This report

f
• may be treated as the Finl Report of this Committee because it will take several

• months to enquire into all the complaints which, in any case, relate to similar offences

and delinquencies. The work of this Commitee can now be taken up by the proposed

Monitoring Committee.

The Committee humbly requests that an early decision on its recommendations may

be taken by the Hon'ble High Court because delay would result in continuation of

• misery of victims, many of whom may compromise with the situation.

5
 REPORT OF:.THE NHRC ENOUIRY COMMITIEE

In pursuance of WPA (P.) 142 of 2021 of Hon'ble High Court Calcutta dated .

18/06/2021 and subsequent directions in hearing on the same petition, on 21/06/2021.

and 02/07/2021, a Committee was constituted by Chairperson, NHRC vide order No.B-

26/5/2021—Coord dated 21/06/2021 (Annexure "A"). The Committee examined into

the complaints of incidents related to post-poll violence in the State of West Bengal

and visited the affected areas and interacted with the victims and other aggrieved

petitioners/complainants.

In this regard the following facts/information is submitted before the Hon'ble High

Court, Calcutta.

1 Constitution of Committee and field teams

As per the directions of the Hon'ble Calcutta High Court, the

Chairperson, NHRC, constituted an Enquiry Committee consisting of

following members:-

Shri Rajiv Jam, Member, NHRC- to head the Committee

Shri Atif Rasheed, Vice Chairperson, National Commission for

Minorities

Smt. (Dr.) Rajulben L. Desai, Member National Commission for

Women

Shri Santosh Mehra, Director General (Investigation), NHRC

Shri Pradip Kumar Panja, Registrar, West Bengal State Human

Rights Commission

Shri Raju Mukherjee, Member Secretary, West Bengal State Legal

Services Authority

Smt. Manzil Saini, DIG (Investigation), NHRC.

 The Enquiry Committee was initially assisted by two operational teams of

investigation division of NHRC to visit various places/villages for

inspection/enquiries into alleged incidents of post poll violence in .West

Bengal. Since the, incidents were reported from the entire State of West

Bengal and number of complaints was very high, teams were again

revised and instead of two, the Chairperson-NHRC and Head of Enquiry

Committee reconstituted the composition of teams and five teams were

formed vide order No. B-26/5/2021-Coord dated 24/06/2021

(Annexure"B"). Later on two more teams were added to augment the

strength of the Enquiry Committee. Thus apart from seven dedicated

teams of personnel from NHRC, teams under the leadership of the Head

of the Committee, the Vice Chairperson NCM, the Member NCW, and

DG-NHRC were also formed in order to cover maximum areas of West

Bengal from where complaints had been received.

2. Modalities followed

The operational teams of NHRC consisting of one SSP, two Assistant

Registrar (Law), 09 DySPs, 13 Inspectors, 10 constables, 2 JRCs and

other secretarial staff were sent immediately in different areas into the

State to carry out field visits. The Head of the Enquiry Committee Shri

Rajiv Jam, HMNHRC, Vice-Chairperson Shri Atif Rasheed of NC for

Minorities, HM of NC for Women Smt. Rajulben Desai, DG-NHRC Shri

Santosh Mehra, Member Secretary SLSA-Shri Raju Mukherjee, Registrar

SHRC Shri Pradip Kumar Panja and DIG NHRC Smt. Manzil Saini also

carried out spot visits to several places, conducted discreet enquiries into

important and grievous incidents without disclosing their locations and '
7
S
tour programs. The Committee Members also organized camp sittings at
• various places such as Kolkata, Purba Medinipur, Howrah, East

• Burdhaman, Murshidabad etc. to give a personal hearing to the

• victims/complainants/petitioners and noting their grievances and

complaints. In this connection, a press note was also released by the

S
Enquiry Committee inviting all Victims! Complainants irrespective of

• their backgrounds/affiliations to meet Committee members and submit

their statements/petitions/ evidences etc. in any incident that they

• suffered from during post poll period. The Committee members also met

• the Police officers in various districts, visited Police stations to get the

• official figures of crime and enquire into specific cases to seek the Police

version and action taken into the incident.

• 03. Complex and extensive nature of the Enquiry

• It is also to be mentioned that the scale of these incidents is widespread

5 and extensive across the entire State of West Bengal and this kind of
S
enquiry and spot inspection is unprecedented and being handled by

• NHRC for the first time. Despite constraints of manpower and resources,

• these teams worked day and night and covered 311 spot visits in a brief

period of 20 days. Moreover, the geographical distances of various

S.
districts/villages in West Bengal, demography of the State, language

S . constraints etc. added complexities to the overall nature of the enquiry.

f Also very limited assistance was sought from Govt. of West Bengal as

the nature of enquiry was discreet and the allegations were against State

.. Police and administration. The NHRC team preferred to take cover of

• CRPF security and the local Police/LO was taken only for route guidance

etc.
5 8
04.. Quantum of complaints received from various sources.

This is to submit that after 02/05/2021 and further after the judgment

dated 18/06/2021, a large number of data of complaints related to post

poll violence was received and duly collected by NHRC Enquiry

Committee. This includes:-

A long list of complaints received in NHRC which are approx 1650

in number consisting of 5000 victims approximately.

A list of complaints received in WB-SLSA and ATR collected by

SLSA from Govt. of West Bengal. Though these are 315 in

numbers they cover approx 9949 victims.

C) Few complaints were received from WB-SHRC through e-mail

(only 18 in number). Rest of the complaints received in WB-SHRC

has been disposed of by the SHRC.

A list of 57 complaint cases related to women was received from

the National Commission for Women.

A large number of cases related to murders, rapes, molestation

and vandalism received from local sources in West Bengal while.

the teams were camping there.

Information regarding heinous and other offences/complaints as

narrated in the various petitions before the Hon. Supreme Court

and Hon. High Court, Calcutta.

 g) A large number of complaints were received during the camp

sittings, through email and mobile numbers given through a press

release at the time of visits.

Overall speaking the Committee received around 1979

complaints/petitions covering over 15000 victims from the above

mentioned sources. The data received from all the above sources is

placed as booklet Master data of complaints at (Annexure-"C").

05 Data sought from Chief Secretary and DGP West Bengal.

In this connection it is submitted that following information in prescribed

formats has also been sought from Chief Secretary and DGP of West

Bengal to assess the volume of crime/incidents acknowledged/registered

by the State Govt. and action taken/rehabilitation/compensation granted

to victims/aggrieved etc.

Details of cases reported under various heads of crime, district

wise from 02/05/2021 to 20/06/2021 and details of PCR calls, P.S.

wise DD entries, MLCs of injured, preventive detention action,

details of losses/property damaged, orders under 144 CrPC, CCTV

recordings, intelligence inputs etc. vide NHRC's letter

No. PS/DIG/NHRC/2021-23 dated 23/06/2021

Details of number of people displaced, total monetary loss, details

of relief camp, people reinstated, compensation provided,

employment given on compassionate grounds, confidence building

measures taken etc. vide letter of even no. dated 27/06/202 1.

10
 Details of Police officers transferred in/out from their place of

posting vide letter No. PS/DIG/NHRC/2021 dated 27/06/2021.

Details of cross cases registered in various incidents in prescribed

format vide letter No. PS/DIG/NHRC/2021 dated 06/07/2021.

Details of FIRs registered after the Hon. High Court's order dated

02/07/2021 on the various complaints forwarded by NHRC to the

DGP of West Bengal vide letter No. PS/DIG/DGWB-Comp/L-

1/2021 dated 078/07/2021.

This is to state that after sending many reminders, the Government of

West Bengal has finally responded in a piecemeal manner and different

districts have given information through digital mode (E-mail and Google

link). Still the information sent is not complete and many vital columns

have been left blank. The information with regard to point B is not

received from the Chief Secretary of West Bengal till date despite

sending three reminders. (Annexure "D")

06. List of spot visits of NHRC Teams.

10th July), the

During the limited period of 16-17 days (24th June to

NHRC teams tried to cover large number of affected places and

interacted with a large number of Victims/Complainants/petitioners,

though not all places of incidents could be covered. The districts and

areas to be visited on priority were identified on the following basis:

Gravity of offence like murder/rapes/large scale vandalism.

Intensity/volume of cases.

Complaints of Police collusion/inaction.

11
 A date-wise list of spot visits and areas covered are, placed as

(Annexure-"E").

07. Analysis of master data of complaints received from all sources.

MASTER DATA DETAILS

S.NO. INCIDENT DISTRICT NUMBER OF
COMPLAINTS
1 ALIPURDUAR 15
2 BANKURA 26
3 BIRBHUM 314
4 COOCH BEHAR 322
5 DARJEELING 1
6 HOOGHLY 86
7 HOWRAH 63
8 JALPAIGURI 31
9 JHARGRAM 8
10 KOLKATA 172
11 MALDA 24
12 MURSHIDABAD 9
13 NADIA 90
14 NORTH 24-PARGANA 196
15 NORTH DINAJPUR 93
16 PASHCHIM BARDHMAN 17
17 PASHCHIM MEDINIPUR 55
18 PURBABARDHMAN 113
19 PURBA MEDINIPUR 27
20 PURULIA - 2
21 SOUTH 24-PARGANA 203
22 SOUTH DINAJPUR 6
23 WEST BENGAL (ENTIRE STATE) 106
TOTAL 1979

Analysis of data collected from all the sources was carried out to make a

broad assessment of overall scenario in terms of intensity and frequency

of cases. The following observations are made:- It shows that very large

number of complaints have been received from districts Cooch Behar,

Birbhum, Purba Bardhaman, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas and

Kolkata while within the administ1rative districts the most affected Police

districts are Baruipur PD, Bashirhat PD, Barrackpore PC and Diamond

Harbour PD.
12
08. Analysis of data of received from DGP West Bengal.

The crime data under major heads as received from DGP Head Quarters

from 02/05/2021 to 20/06/2021 is analysed as below:-

SI. Type of No. of No. of No. of No. of No. of Percent Percentag

No. crime complaint FIRs accus accus accused age of e of
s lodged register ed ed arrested accused accused
in all ed on cited arrest but now arrested who are
Police these in ed so on bail out of still in
stations complai FIRs far cited custody
of West nts (approx)
Bengal
Murder/
29 - 29 379 134 2 35 % 35 %
Homicide
Attempt to
rape /Sexual
12 12 53 11 9 21 % 4%
assault -
Molestation
Grievous -
hurt/
391 388 3780 590 492 16 % 2.5 %
incapacitatio
n
Arson!
Vandalism
/loot/darnag
940 609 4324 540 460 12 % 1.8 %
e to public or
private
property
Threats 123 are
/criminal / on bail
intimidation whereas
only 79
562 130 768 79 123 10 %
arrested
which is
- contradict
ory
Grand
1934 1168 9304 1345 1086 2.88 %
Total

13
From above data, it is evident that the percentage of accused arrested

out of those cited and the percentage of accused who are still in custody

is abysmally low, which shows inept performance of local Police and

there is no deterrence for criminal elements as seen from the above

crime data.

In the cases which were officially registered by Police, the number

/
of arrests made are very few, in contrast to the large scale violence and

huge number of accused in most cases. Cases have not been

investigated on priority and, in many cases, sections invoked are not

commensurate to the gravity of offences that occurred. The statement

given in the above table reflects that, out of 9,304 accused cited in the

FIRs, only 1,354 (14 %) have been arrested and, out of these arrested,

11086 (80 0/s) are already on bail. Thus, overalispeaking, less than 3%

of the accused are in jail, while 97 % are out in the open, making a

mockery of the whole system. It is quite evident that Police is working

under influence and in a biased manner and do not have the courage to

take action against looming goons belonging to the ruling dispensation.

The I/Cs of Police Stations have not even visited the places of many of

the violent incidents, nor collected any evidence or recorded statements,

let alone registering FIRs.

14
09. Complaints forwarded to DGP and registration of FIRs

The Hon. High Court vide its orders of 2h1c July 2021, in para 9 (a) has

given the directions to Police of West Bengal to register cases in all

matter which have been placed before the NHRC or any other

authority/Commission and take steps to get the statements of the

victims recorded under Sec-164 CrPC immediately, as per law. This is to

submit that initially also as per the judgment of High Court Calcutta

dated 10/05/2021 in WPA(A) 143 of 2021 around 582 complaints

received by NHRC were sent to DGP West Bengal, for taking action as
d
per law. Later after the Hon. High Court's judgment dated 2n July 2021,

around 1893 complaints (which includes initial 582 complaints sent

earlier) received through various means in the NHRC and before the

Enquiry Committee were sent to DGP West Bengal to take necessary

action as per the directions of the Hon. High Court. A compliance was

also sought from the DG HQs on the same, i.e. date wise and district

wise registration of FIRs from 02/07/2021 onwards. A reply to the same

from DGP West Bengal reveals that till date only 137 FIRs are registered

which includes one FIR on Attempt to rape, four FIRs on grievous injury,

104 FIRs on arson/vandalism, 24 FIRs on criminal intimidation and 4

FIRs on other heads.

10. Brief analysis of Spot Inspections done by enquiry Committee

The attention of the Hon'ble High Court is now invited to the following

table which pertains to the 311 spot enquiries conducted by seven

operational teams of NHRC, spread over ten days.

15
SI. TEAM Total Places Places Places where Places No. of
No no. of where FIR where FIR minimization where victims/co
places not Not / minimization mplainants
visited registered registered dilution of I who
(in %) crime dilution of approache
crime d the
(in %) teams but
their
statement
could not
be
recorded
by our
team due
to paucity
of time
/prior
commitme
nt
1. A 95 61 64% 15 44% 73
2. B 42 26 62% 4 25% --
3. C 51 40 78% - - 158

4. D 35 18 51% 10 58% 1665

5. E 36 17 47% 2 11% 900
6. F 32 25 78% 2 29% 23
7.G 20 01 5% - - 50
Total 311 188 60% 33 27% 2869

As seen from the above, out of the 311 spot enquiries conducted by the

teams, in as many as 188 instances (60%), FIRs have not been

registered by the Police at all. Even in the 123 cases where FIRS have

been registered, in as many as 33 cases (27 %), Police have resorted to

dilution by using milder sections of law. It is further seen from the table

that when the NHRC operational teams visited these 311 places/spots,

additionally, 2869 people/victims approached them with petitions

requesting for enquiry and registration of cases, which is (900%) or nine

times of the victims covered by the teams. To summarize, for 123 cases

16
• registered by the Police, there were another 3057 (2869+ 188) number

of complainants/petitioners/victims, whose cases were either not

• registered by Police or cases were diluted or Police was not accessible to

• them and therefore, they wanted NHRC teams to enquire into their

issues. If this is considered as a sample of the state of affairs in West

Bengal, the extent of burking and minimization of crime across the state

can be well imagined.

11. Spot visits by Member- National Commission for Women

The summary sheet, as submitted by the Hon'ble Member of the

I
National Commission for Women, who is also the Member of the

• Committee constituted by the Chairperson of NHRC, is given below. The

• Hon'ble Member visited seven districts and met around 425 complainants
I
and victims and got their statements recorded herself and through her

• team members. The details of the statements recorded and other

• supporting documents, collected by Hon'ble Member and her team, are

• /
given at Annexure-'F. Due to paucity of time, it was not possible for

the Committee to go into details of all the enquiries conducted by the

• Hon'ble Member. Recommendations of the Hon'ble Member have been

duly incorporated in the comprehensive recommendations given in the

Main Report.
I

The Hon'ble Member, NCW Dr. Rajulben L Desai visited 4 districts during
• th
the visit from 24th to 28th and 3 districts from 7 to
8th July, 2021

wherein the interaction with Police, state authorities and complainants

was done. She travelled extensively to the districts of Birbhum, South 24

Parganas, Purba Bardhaman, Purba Medinipur, Paschim Medinipur and

• 17

I
• Howrah Rural. The Hon'ble member also visited the villages which are

S affected by post poll violence and observed that there is fear in the eyes
S
of victims and their family members, they do not want to come out to

• say anything against the state authorities/Police authorities. The Hon'ble

• Member during her visit to villages observed that people are not coming

out of their houses because of the reason that if they make a complaint
S
then the goons of TMC will further victimize their family members. The

5 complainants also stated that there is no support or security provided by

5 the Police officials and they even got pressurized by Police to withdraw

the complaint or else they refused to take the complaints.

The Hon'ble Member observed that in this situation there is no rule of

law in the state and violations of constitutional ideals like democracy,

• republic, social justice, equity and liberty etc. There is need of good

governance in the state of West Bengal for implementing the rights

provided by Indian Constitution i.e, Right to live with dignity (Article.21)

which includes right to residence and right to food, right to medical,

• legal aid and freedom of expression.

0
12. Spot visits by Vice-Chairperson-National Commission for

• Minorities

Visit was led by Shri Atif Rasheed, Vice Chairman, National Commission

for Minorities Sh. Atif Rasheed, Vice Chairman, NCM along with Sh. A.

0 Sengupta, Under Secretary, Mohd. Yousuf, P.A and Sh. Naresh Das, JTO

to Malda and Murshidabad districts from 6-8 July, 2021. On 6th July,

2021 the team reached Dibrugarh Airport and proceeded towards Malda

• by road. On 7th July, 2021 the team visited village Kenbona, Police

• Station Gazole where certain complaints of post poll violence were

• 18
received. The women in the village reported that Police along with TMC

goons broke into their houses at midnight of 23rd May, 2021. The

women were physically harassed and were taken into custody in semi

nude condition. Even one handicapped girl was physically assaulted. All

the affected villagers complained against the O.0 of Gazole Police station

namely; Sh. Purnendu Mukherjee. Thereafter the team visited the Gazole

Police station and enquired about numbers of cases registered in the

Police station. It was informed that Sh. Purnendu Mukherjee had been

transferred five days back. There was no registered complaint of post

poll violence. The present O.0 was instructed by Sh. Atif Rasheed so that

no further violence shall take place after their visit. In the afternoon the

team met the other post poll violence victims at Circuit House, Malda

where around 10 complainants were present. There is general feeling of

insecurity among the villagers. There were two serious cases of rape of

minor girls. The Superintendent of Police, Malda was asked the details of
/
worst affected Police stations in the district, number of calls received on

100 number and cases registered out of them. However, information

was not provided. On 7th July, 2021 evening the team proceeded
8th July, 2021,
towards Behrampore Murshidabad. In the morning of

victims of post poll violence were called at Circuit House Behrampore to

submit their representations to the team. Around 33 complainants were

/
present. There were general complaints against Police atrocities, fear of

insecurity, non-cooperation by Pradhans of villages run by TMC like

denial of death certificates, vaccination, MNREGA jobs and other

certificates. Even there was a complaint about threat by Police to

withdraw the original complaint of the victim and not to attend NHRC

19
 hearing. The S.P and D.M of Murshidabad District were directed to take

necessary action against the Police officers who were named in the

complaints as well as provide security and all facilities to the villagers.

8th July, 2021.

The team left for Kolkata in the evening of

13. Spot Visits by Other Members of the Committee

The head of the Committee Shri Rajiv Jam, Member NHRC, Shri Raju

Mukherjee, Member Secretary SLSA, Shri Pradip Kumar Panja, Registrar

WB-SLSA, Shri Santosh Mehra, DG NHRC also carried out many field

visits covering the districts and areas in Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly, Purba

Medinipur, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas.

The team visited various settlements/villages under PS Udaynaaryanpur

of Howrah Rural District, PS Bhupatinagar of Purba Medinipur, PS

Bishnupur and PS Falta of 24 South Parganas, PS Jadavpur and PS

Chitpur in Kolkata. The Committee members met some of the victims.

Most of the victims were terrorized to the extent that they were not

ready to speak anything and some of them who narrated incident

happened with them did noname the accused. Destruction, looting,

assaults etc., were noticed. Cases of alleged murder, cases of

vandalism, looting and displacement of people was recorded. Informally,

incidents of sexual assault, rape and molestation were also reported but

no one was ready to depose or give any statement to the Committee

members out of fear and backlash.

The down trodden people were found living miserable life, everything

from the house was looted including food, stove, utensils, etc.

20
 •
• The people were visibly under fear and many of them did not want to

narrate their stories and if some narrated their horrible experiences did

not want to name the culprits. However, some of them named a few

• accused. In most of the cases the Police was informed but they did not

S take any action rather the reporting of the case was intimated to the

Ruling party local leaders by the Police that was causing more distress

• and misery to the lives of victims.

14. Brief of Camp Sittings

• Camp settings were organized by the member of the enquiry committee

27th and 28th of June in which an opportunity was given to all

on

• complainants/victims/petitioners to meet the members of the committee

in person and apprise them of the incidents and sufferings faced by

them after the post poll violence. In these camp settings, a total of 1036

• victims submitted around 201 applications in which common complaints.

• of vandalism, assaults, threats and displacement were reported. Few

cases of molestation with women and murder/death during violence

S
. were also reported. The member of the committee gave a patient

1 hearing and assured them of full supportfor protection of their human

rights.

• Another camp sitting was organized on 29/06/2021 at the West Bengal

State Human Right Commission. It was presided by Registrar, West

S
Bengal Human Rights Commission and Member Secretary, West Bengal

. SLSA. In this camp sitting, total of 70 cases were received on instances

• of post poll violence.

S .
• 21

S
More camp sittings were organized by the various members of the

Committee at Purba Bardhaman, Murshidabad, Howrah and Purba

Medinipur.

Brief of important cases in which spot visits are made

The Enquiry Committee took a conscious decision to prioritize the cases

of grievous nature such as alleged murders/rapes and large scale

vandalism and sent the operational teams on the ground to verify the

fact at the ground level. The consolidated report of important cases and

reports of all the teams alongwith gist of statements recorded, other

evidences and pictures is placed in booklets Volume 1,2,3,4 and 5 placed

at Annexure 'H'.

Brief of important Rape Cases

As a matter of caution and as per the directions of Law, a few cases in

which the victims have given statements and narrated the incident of

rape/sexual assault on them, a separate booklet of these cases and

related documents is placed at Annexure 'I'

Criteria for identifying delinquent Police officials

Prevention and reduction of crime and maintaining law and order are the

two primary duties of Police. It is clear from the para nos 8 and 10,

above that across the length and breadth of West Bengal, the Police

miserably failed to perform its duties. It is important that strong

deterrent action is taken at least against a few Police officers District

Heads and SHOs of Police Stations for their acts of omissions and

commissions. In this regard, a list of a few Police officers, whose

22
performance was found to be absolutely dismal on different parameters,

is enclosed at Annexure-). The list is only illustrative and not

exhaustive. Paucity of time prevented a thorough analysis.

Criteria for identifying Notorious Criminals /goons

Analysis of statements recorded of the victims/complainants1 supporting

documents, data and other related information collected from the spot

enquiries, including camp sittings, registered cases, etc., revealed that a

large number of criminals, who enjoy State patronage and support, were

responsible for abetting, planning, organizing and even committing

offences in a systematic and widespread manner. A list of such notorious

criminals/goons, which is just illustrative and not comprehensive, is

enclosed as Annexure-K. Their exact culpability will be established

through greater scrutiny of records, analysis of telephonic records and

cross verification of statements recorded and police station records. This

will require some additional efforts.

Present Situation

The situation in the State of West Bengal is a manifestation of

"Law of Ruler", instead of "Rule of Law".

Nature of Violence: The spatlo - temporal expanse of violent

incidents in the state of West Bengal with little efforts of State

machinery to prevent or control or rectify the same is actually a

larger picture of organized violence by supporters of the ruling

party in retribution against persons who dared to support the

23
 other major party which lost the recent Assembly elections in the

State. While some organs or personnel of the State Government

remained mute spectators, some others were apparently

corn p1 icit.

Most of the violent incidents included murder, rape, molestation,

assault, vandalism, looting, dispossession, arson, extortion, threat

and intimidation. Pertinently, they were neither sporadic nor

random; instead, they targeted specific persons (those associated

with the main opposition party). There are large gaps in the cases

registered by Police as compared to complaints received by this

Committee, as mentioned earlier in this report.

Violence was retributive. It was in retaliation to those who "dared"

to vote or support the major opposition party. Victims were

helpless and hopeless due to the torture and trauma. To add to

the indignity were reports of instances where heads were

tonsured or public apologies were made for having "erred" in

supporting the major opposition party.

3) Disruption of Life I Livelihood: A large number of houses,

shops and vehicles, etc., of workers of the main opposition party

were vandalized and looted and water and electricity connections

severed, resulting in disruption of life and livelihood of these

families. Many of the victims were also asked to cough up large

sums of money as a precondition to their return to their homes.

Many have not yet returned. Several victims complained about

their identity cards, like Ration Cards, Aadhar Cards, Swastha

24
 Sathi Cards, etc., being snatched or destroyed by goons of the

ruling party, which prevented them from availing legitimate

benefits from the government. Several victims also complained

that they were being discriminated against in getting vaccination

• for Covid-19 because they were perceived to be supporters of the

main opposition party. Owners of some private establishments

• reportedly showed the door to some of their employees yielding

• to pressure from goons of the ruling party. Thus, their right to life

and to health was being violated.

0
• Continuing Trauma: Violent incidents have not completely

stopped, even while they have reduced after the intervention of

Hon'ble Calcutta High Court's orders and NHRC's spot visits..

• Threat calls, extortion calls and atmosphere of revenge/reprisal

still exists, particularly in rural pockets. The continuation of violent

incidents and non-amelioration of related issues for nearly two

• months manifests the immensity of the problem and the abject

• failure of the State Govt.

0
• Prevalent Fear: There-Is clear and perceptible fear in the eyes

• and minds of people of a particular affiliation that since they had

0
voted or actively canvassed or done some poll/booth duty for the

main opposition party, they are under the radar of the ruling party

• and are, therefore, being victimized and threatened to toe the line

0 or else leave the State. There is fear of goons and of Police and

fear of reprisals frorm the ruling party in tandem with the

• administration. While they are being attacked and looted, the

goons are giving open threats that they will have to either join the
25

0
0 ruling party or leave the state of West Bengal. Law breakers

• became law unto themselves. The perpetrators of violence had no

S
fear of law as they were confident of protection from an

• administration controlled by the ruling party.

The Committee's work was severely affected by this prevalent

• fear among victims. It precluded many victims from mentioning

• their plight or the name of the perpetrators of crime or abettors.

Moreover, victims are afraid that, once the NHRC team leaves,
0
• they would again be targeted and victimized. Hence, many people

• either chose to meet the Committee in Kolkata or have been

calling on phone and sending evidences on Whatsapp and email id

I
of NHRC, instead of coming out in open. This fear of getting re-

• victimised was not entirely misplaced. In several instances, the

• Committee learnt that, after it had taken the statement of a

I
victim, he received threats for having spoken to the Committee.

6) Loss of Faith in Police: Poor and common people have lost faith
S
in Police. Almost all the victims informed the Inquiry Committee

and their teams that Police either did not respond to their phone
I
5 calls or came and stood as mere spectators while goons went on

a rampage from one place to another. The Police was either

negligent or complicit or under pressure not to take any action

against the goons belonging to the ruling dispensat.ion.

I
7) Complicity of Police: with goons of the ruling party was alleged.

by most of the victims. This was manifest in several ways: victims

0 were implicated in false cases by the Police, or Police lodged

S.
•
S
counter cases against the victims by the accused, or the Police

pre-dated such counter cases (in order to provide credibility to

version of the accused against the real victim), the Police

registered the counter - case in graver sections of law than the

primary case, Police arrested the victim in the counter case but

dragged its feet on taking action on the victim's case, or Police did

nothing on the complaint of victims, or Police looked the other

way even when a victim was being assaulted in their presence, or

Police tried to counsel victims to seek a compromise with the

accused, murder case was registered as an Unnatural Death case,

etc.

FIRs: The fundamental basis of Criminal Justice System as

envisaged in CrPC provisions and interpreted in various

judgements of .Hon'ble Supreme Court, i.e., free and immediate

registration of cognizable offences was absolutely missing. As in

large number of incidents, there has been rampant burking of

offences, including FIRs still not being registered, FIRs registered

after many days and in many incidents the sections invoked are of

lesser magnitude.

Because of the time lapse between date of incidents and enquiry

or investigation in field, in many cases, especially of alleged

rapes/assaults/injuries, collection of evidence may lose relevance

as no Medical Reports were made in majority of the cases.

Inadequating Policing: The Suptd. of Police and I/Cs of Police

Stations have not carried out adequate confidence building

27
 measures among people. They have failed to reinstate the

• displaced people and bring them safely to their houses ensuring

their security and livelihood. They have not been able to protect

• some victims who, after returning to their homes, were again

• subjected to violence or threats and intimidation. Most accused

anti social elements and goons are still at large and continue to

o have the temerity to threaten displaced people to return to their

• homes and shops only after paying money to them. The

. Committee was informed by victims on telephonic complaints that

they were unable to come back to their houses and shops as they

• did not have money to pay to the extortionists/goons. Many

• accused are still at large.

• The traditional system of beat policing, intelligence gathering,

• picketing, community and village committee

•
patrolling and

policing appeared to be missing especially in rural Police Stations.

• Periodic visits by SHO5 in their areas, credibility and image of

• Police in public, confidence building measures by Police to restore

- faith and hope in people is perceptibly found absent.

• It appears that adequate preventive steps permissible under law

had not been taken by most Police Stations to prevent the spate

of violence. Such preventive actions against known goons could

• have included bounding down under preventive sections of law

• like section 107 CrPC, externment, preventive detention under

NSA, patrolling, static deployment of armed Police in affected

• areas, etc. Data on these issues is awaited from DG

• Headquarters.
• 28
 10) Apathy of Senior Echelons: An alarming aspect of this violence

amply figuring in public domain was that it evoked no empathy in

State administration in any tangible manner - either by way of its

0
0 condemnation, provision of relief, confidence building measures,

suitable Police action, etc., what to talk of compensation or relief

0
or rehabilitation. Victims complained of apathy of the State

administration and alleged that the Govt. and senior Police

0 officers had not taken any strict action against any district

SSP5/DCPs or I/Cs of Police stations where large no. of incidents

had taken place and gruesome and ghastly incidents of murders

and gang rapes occurred as reported in various petitions. State

administration did not provide any relief or ex gratia, even though

such measures are routinely adopted in this state when people

suffer for other reasons.

Senior political leaders do not seem to have made any tour in the

fields to gauge the violence/arson that occurred at ground level.

Moreover, they do not seem to have given any direction to District

Magistrates or given any notification to compensate the aggrieved

and victims, make a monetary assessment of their property

losses, provide employments to the next of kin of deceased.

People were left on their own to protect their human rights,

including basic rights to life and food and livelihood.

11) Police Manpower: •Both sanctioned and actual manpower in

Police Stations is very low, given the large area and dense

demography. It is not sufficient to cover large scale incidents and

29
carry out effective beat policing at beat/chowki level. For e.g. in

PS Falta, there are only 12 male Constables and 4 female

Constables. This shortage has been sought to be augmented by

deployment of Civic Volunteers. This is largely the feedback of

most of the rural Police Stations of West Bengal.

Civic Volunteers (CV): as found in large number of Police

Stations are locally employed young boys who have neither been

regularly recruited nor given any training like regular Constables

and, hence, they are neither effective nor capable of handling

crime or law and order situations. They have merely augmented

the strength of Police Stations without any substantial contribution

towards effective policing.

Civic Volunteers are present in large numbers (eg., 170 in PS

Falta) in different Police Stations. However, they suffer from

inherent limitations, including paltry pay (less than Rs. 10,000

pm), inadequate training, absence of career progression, etc.,

even while the scheme provides employment to a large number of

people and affords people with local knowledge to Police Stations.

They are generally perceived to be agents of the ruling party as

they were recruited during the tenure of the AITC and maintain

touch with the local party leaders.

Logistics: The Hon'ble Calcutta High Court, in Para 16 of its

order dated 18.6.2021, had directed the Govt. of West Bengal to

make all arrangements for this Committee. Subsequently, on

2.7.2021, the Court issued notice on the complaint of Sh. Atif

30
Rasheed, a member of this Committee, for obstruction etc by

goons on 29.6.2021 in Jadavpur area. Since then, members of

this Committee and their teams visited different districts of the

State again. The State Government made accommodation

arrangements for the members of this Committee in Bedi Bhavan,

Kolkata. This place was absolutely unsuitable due to ill

maintenance, bad odour, lack of cleanliness in rooms and kitchen,

etc. It is learnt that the State Government has better

accommodation in Kolkata but chose to not provide the same to

the Committee. Similarly, the lodging arrangements for Sri

Rasheed were very poor. Moreover, adequate transport was not

provided to a team of the Inquiry Committee on 10.7.2021. This

was in violation of the order dated 18.6.2021 of the Hon'ble High

Court directing the state Government to make suitable

arrangements for the Committee.

Politico - Bureaucratic - Criminal nexus: The spate of

violence shows a pernicious politico - bureaucratic - criminal

nexus. Criminals indulged in violence against political rivals while

the bureaucratic edifice was complicit in various degrees. This is a

deadly combination that has sinister implications for any State and

will ultimately corrode the entire edifice. The presence of this

nexus in a border State also has larger national security

implications.

Attack on Pillars of Democracy: There had been brazen

violation of several fundamental and human rights of people

31
 including right to life and liberty, right to live with dignity, right to

livelihood, right to food and water, right to feel secure and so

forth. This was not a simple spate of violent incidents but a

concerted attack on some fundamental features of our

Democracy, including the following:-

Rule of Law: This concept is "at the confluence of three

important values - human dignity, democracy and justice".

This violence was a manifestation of complete breakdown of

Rule of Law, including equality of law, equality before law,

equal access to justice, etc.

Political pluralism: This violence served to convey the message

that no one should dare to profess or support a party other

than the ruling party.

Free, fair and secure polling: These violent incidents will have

an adverse impact on future polls in as much as people will be

scared to vote or support any party other than the ruling

party. If such a situation continues, subsequent elections will

never be free and fair in the true sense of the word. It is not

sufficient to say that there had been free and fair polling.

Instead, one has to ensure free and fair and secure polling to

ensure the health of our democracy.

20. Recommendations

1) CBI Investigation: In view of the present situation described

above, there is need to provide justice to victims and restore their

32
 confidence in the Criminal Justice System, which can be best

rendered by a neutral agency. Hence, it is recommended that all

heinous cases, including murder, Unnatural Deaths, rape and

grievous hurt, and complaints carrying these allegations, should

be transferred to the CBI for investigation. These cases should

also include the following:-

Complaints containing the above allegations as revealed

during our spot enquiries as per Annexures G and H.

Cases of rape mentioned in a separate sealed cover

enclosed at Annexure I (because it contains identities of

rape victims).

C. Any other case falling in the above categories which may

be duly referred to the CBI after this date by this

Committee.

PS Nandigram, Dist. Purba Midnapur, case no. 224/21

dated 13.5.2021, on the murder of one Shri Debobrata

Maity.

Cases, if any, foisted against Shri Shanu and Shri Suraj

Mallick of Jadavpur PS area, who had facilitated the visit of

Shri Atif Rasheed, Hon'ble Member of this Committee, and

his team members to their area today (29.6.2021) to

enquire into reports of vandalism and looting.

2) Trial of CBI Cases: Trial of all the above cases investigated by

the CBI should be held outside the State.

33
3) SIT: A Court monitored SIT (Special Investigation Team) should

be formed immediately consisting of senior supervisory IPS

officers and others. This SIT should register cases (if not already

done by local Police) and investigate all the cases and complaints

mentioned in Annexures G and H which prima facie reveal

commission of a cognizable offense, other than those being

entrusted to the CBI as per the above recommendation. In

addition, it may take up other cases also as deemed proper.

These cases should be investigated expeditiously in a time-framed

manner. In addition, the SIT should similarly register FIRS on

other complaints that it receives through any other means and

investigate the same. SIT should have an email ID and a phone

number, which should be widely publicized, on which related

complaints should be recorded and follow up action and related

logs maintained.

Court Monitoring: All the cases investigated by the SIT should

be monitored by the Court.

Fast Track Courts: should be notified to try these cases

investigated by the SIT in a time - bound manner.

Special PP: A special team of Public Prosecutors should be

attached to the SIT to monitor the quality of investigation,

collection of evidence, placing of chargesheets in Courts and to

follow up the prosecution I trial in Courts to ensure convictions.

34
Witness Protection Scheme: The State Govt. should

immediately formalize its Witness Protection Scheme, as

envisaged by the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India. Till then, it may

extend protection to the victims / witnesses of various crimes

who, due to fear and intimidation from the perpetrators of

violence, could not even gather the courage to report the crime to

Police Stations or even before this Committee. The scope of this

protection should cover all the complainants, witnesses and

victims who have suffered this organized violence irrespective of

whether their FIRs have been registered or not.

Medical Evidence: Records of medical treatment in private

hospitals and clinics should be treated as corroborative evidence

and collected during the investigation of cases. This is required

because many victims got their own medical aid and treatments

as no FIRs had been registered on their complaints.

Ex Gratia: Victims are in need of immediate assistance to enable

them to resume their normal lives. Hence, ex gratia amounts

should be given to them, preferably from the Victim

Compensation Fund. These should be given to victims mentioned

in the complaints received by this Committee till date (as per

Annexure C and other complaints received by this Committee till

date which are being tabulated and will be shortly sent to the

DGP). Since these are ex gratia amounts, they should not dis-

35
 entitle victims from receiving compensation under any other

scheme or for damage of their house, etc. All the complaints

received by this Committee or FIRs till date should not warrant

further application or enquiry and should be considered as a

complaint eligible for payment of ex gratia. Complaints received

after this date, either from the complainant or any authority,

should be treated as an application for such ex gratia and

modalities of verifying the same may be laid down by the

proposed Monitoring Committee. These ex gratia grants should be

as per following criteria:-

Next of kin of deceased persons should be given Rs. 5

lakhs each.

Survivors of sexual assault should be given Rs. 2 lakhs

each.

Victims who suffered vandalisation/looting/destruction of

their properties should be given Rs. 1 lakh each.

Victims who suffered grievous injury should be given Rs. 1

lakh each.

Victims who suffered simple injury should be given Rs.

50,000 each.

10) Compensation for Damages: Since victims have suffered

significant damage to their properties, all the District Magistrates

should form one or more teams to assess the actual damage so

36
caused as a result of violence as a preparatory step towards

granting them compensation for the damage suffered. To begin

with, this process may be started in respect of properties

mentioned in Annexure C, followed by those mentioned in

complaints received by the DGP from different sources and further

complaints that may be received by this Committee.

Assistance for House Construction: Cost of construction of a

house, at standard government module for Rural Housing

Scheme, should be provided to the victims whose properties had

been damaged or vandalised or demolished, as figuring among

the complaints at Annexure C and compaints received till date by

the Committee.

Reinstatement and Rehabilitation: The State Govt. should

take steps for immediate reinstatement and rehabilitation of

people to their places of residences/villages, ensure resumption of

their shops/businesses and livelihood in a safe and secure

environment. Police may ensure patrolling of the affected areas,

make static deployment at affected places, use preventive

sections of law to bound over those who are believed to be

involved in acts of violence and threats and intimidation, superior

officers of Police and civil administration should hold camps in

affected areas to instill confidence.

Static Pickets: of Central Armed Police: Forces should be

deployed in all the villages from where five or more complaints

37
have been received (relating to murder, rape, grievous hurt,

vandalism of homes, etc). Even if 500 pickets of 1-10 strength are

deployed, it will entail deployment of less than 10 Battalions.

Their objective should be to create a safe environment so as to

impart confidence among the victims and to enable a safer

environment for them to return or live. They will work under the

local Police as per law, and the State government will provide

them requisite logistics. They will keep informing the proposed

Observers / Monitoring Committee of relevant matters. Their

deployment can be finalized in consultation with the local Police

and the proposed Monitoring Committee.

Water and Electricity: The State Government should ensure

that electric connection and water supply is restored within a

week in all the cases meiitioned in Annexure C. Such restoration

will facilitate return of people and also ensure right to. dignity and

livelihood to the victims.

Free Rations and Medicals: The State Government should

ensure distribution of free rations and extension of medical

facilities, including vaccination for Covid-1.9, as per its schemes, to

all needy people, without insisting on possession of Ration Cards

or Aadhar Cards etc.

Compassionate Appointment: A family member / next of kin

of all murder victims (in respect of the murder cases proposed to

38
be entrusted to the CBI) should be provided employment in a

Govt. establishment on compassionate grounds.

Rehabilitation: Skill Development programmes should be

introduced in violence affected areas to help youth. Government

should encourage the victims to start snall businesses by

providing loans on soft terms. Special Care Homes should be

opened for people who had to flee from their homes due to

violence.

Protection to women: Protection should be provided to all the

victims of sexual offences and also to witnesses of the cases. The

National Commission for Women should start a Helpline to receive

complaints from victims of sexual offences, because they are yet

to have confidence in the local Police. The complaints can, then,

be forwarded to the DGP and to this Committee for follow up.

This Helpline can also render counselling to such women. Special

Care Homes for women affected by violence should be made.

They can be provided vocational trainirg to ensure their

•Proactive Policing: The Police and other district administration

officers should do extensive village visiting, actively seek

information of occurrence of crime and accordingly visit the

scenes of crime, register FIRs, enquire and collect evidence.

39
20) Preventive Policing: Police should identify the anti social

elements and goons who have perpetrated violent attacks and to

open history sheets, take preventive actions against them

including externment proceedings, binding them down under

Cr.P.C. provisions, consider their detention under Acts like NSA

and cancellation of bail in deserving cases. A list of some

notorious criminals I goons is enclosed at Annexure K. The list is

illustrative, not exhaustive. Peace and Reconciliations Committees•

may be formed at different levels with representation of all

sections of society.

Intelligence gathering: system should be improved and made

more robust as the Police and administration was found

unprepared to handle the spate of incidents of violence in the

aftermath of poll results despite the State having a politically

surcharged atmosphere.

Police SOPs: The State Police should revise its guidelines and

Standard Operating Procedures, anti-riot drills etc. to handle such

large scale incidents of violence and lawlessness.

Police Manpower: State Govt. should do a comprehensive study

of manpower requirements of Police and reexamine its scheme of

Civic Volunteers to make it more effective.

Police Reforms: The State Govt. should immediately take steps

to implement Hon'ble Supreme Court's judgements on Police

40
Reforms (eg. Prakash Singh Vs Union of India of 2006 and other

cases), particularly for composition of State Security Commission,

Police Complaints Authority, Establishment Board, appointment of

DGP and fixed tenures of officers concerned.

Delinquent Govt. Servants: Accountability of officials of state

Government should be fixed and action should be taken against

guilty personnel. A list of some delinquent Police officers is

enclosed at Annexure 3. This is illustrative, not exhaustive. The

errant Police officers/staff who were found violating the human

rights, complicit with anti - social elements and negligent in

protecting the rights of poor victims should be identified and

strict disciplinary and legal action should be taken against them.

Likewise, there is need to identify and take disciplinary action

against government servants from other Departments who failed

to discharge their duties like providing food rations, health

services including Covid-19 vaccination, relief and compensation

to victims, etc.

Reforms in Bureaucracy: There is need for systemic changes

and creation of an enabling ecosystem, where officers with

rectitude and competence are given due recognition, and their

commitment is to the public and not to the political master. Such

reforms should insulate the bureaucratic machinery of West

Bengal from being used by the party in power, as an instrument

41
of oppression and suppression of people and subversion of

democratic functioning.

Assistance to Committee: Assistance should be afforded to this

Committee in discharge of its functions by the State and Central

agencies within legitimate bounds.

Monitoring Committee: A Monitoring Committee should be

appointed to regularly and comprehensively monitor the

implementation of directions of the Hon'ble Court, given the

apathy of the State Govt. The Monitoring Committee should

periodically submit a report to the Court. This mechanism should,

inter alia, consist of the following elements:-

It should be headed by a retired Judge of Supreme / High

Court;

Observers should be appointed in each of the affected

districts. These officers should preferably be from outside

West Bengal in order to ensure their independence. They

will report to the Head of the Monitoring Committee. They

could be retired or serving civil servants and 1 or Police

officers. Should the Court so desire, this Inquiry Committee

of NHRC can suggest a few names for this Monitoring

Committee.

42
(C) Each Observer should be given a separate phone, the

number of which should be suitably publicised to enable

pebple to lodge their complaint directly with them. They

could, then, take it up with the district officials for suitable

redressal.

These Observers should also monitor the implementation of

directions of the Court in the district to which they have

been assigned. They should also monitor the exercise of

assessment of damages to moveable and immoveable

properties, payment of compensation and ex gratia, etc.

These Observers should also submit particulars of those

local officers who are not complying with the Court's

directions.

These Observers should also conduct enquiry into the list

of goons and of delinquent Police officers as enclosed in

this report and others.

The Monitoring Committee should discharge all the

functions and tasks assigned to this Committee.

These Observers should submit their reports to the Head of

the Monitoring Committee on a defined periodicity, say, ten

days, in the first instance.

43
 (I) The Head of the Monitoring Committee will compile all

these reports and submit to the Hon'ble Court.

The Head of the Monitoring Committee and these

Observers should be empowered to issue suitable

directions to local officials, based on this Court's orders.

The State Govt. should provide requisite logistics,

secretarial assistance, security and telephone etc., to the

Chairperson and Members of this Monitoring Committee.

(I) Members of this Monitoring Committee should also be free

to use the infrastructure of the State Legal Services

Authority in different districts in discharge of this work.

29) Final Report: The Committee is privileged to have been assigned

this task by the Hon'ble High Court. It is humbly recommended

that this report may be taken as the final report of this Committee

and decisions may be takén on the above recommendations or as

the Hon'ble Court may otherwise deem fit. Delay in decisions may

compel helpless victims to compromise with the situation. The

Committee has already visited several districts and met victims of

different kinds of offences. Examination of all the 2,000+

complaints that it has received will entail several months. The

nature of offences and grievances in these complaints are similar

in nature to the ones that the Committee has already examined.

44
 What is required is quick amelioration of the situation by

implementation of Court directives. The proposed Monitoring

Committee may succeed this Committee to monitor

implementation of orders of this Hon'ble Court and also discharge

other tasks assigned to this Committee.

21. Compliance with Court order dated 2.7.2021

In Para 9a, Hon'ble Court directed that "Police should register

cases in all matters which have either been reported to it or have

been placed before the NHRC or any other authority I

Commission. Steps be taken to get the statements of victims

recorded under section 164 CrPC immediately, as per law". In

compliance thereof, total about 1,900 complaints had been

forwarded by the NHRC to the DGP. As per report of the DGP

dated 10.7.2021, only 137 additional cases have been registered.

Dismal registration of cases is evident in the fact that, for

instance, no case of rape was registered even though 12

complaints alleging rape had been forwarded to the DGP on

4.7.2021 (refer Annexure D).

In Para 9b and c, Hon'ble Court directed about medical treatment

and rations to affected persons - Sate government may respond.

During field visits of this Committee to some places, however, we

did not hear of such services being provided to the victims.

45
3) In Para 9d, Hon'ble Court directed that the State should "place

before the Committee complete details of the cases in which the

accused were arrested and have been enlarged on bail by the

courts". No such statement has been received from the DGP since

this court order. However, the last statement on this subject was

received by the NHRC in the last week of June for the period

2.5.2021 to 20.6.2021. The Committee has received a statement

from the DGP containing aggregate figures of arrests and bail,

instead of complete details. (Refer Annexure D).

In Para 9e, Hon'ble Court directed that "Whatever information has

been asked for by the Committee from different authorities in the

State, be supplied immediately...". Some information sought by

the Committee is yet to be provided, as mentioned earlier in the

report. This Committee is pursuing the authorities to obtain the

said information.

In Para 9f, Hon'ble Court directed about second autopsy of Abhijit

Sarkar. Accordingly, second autopsy was conducted by the

Command Hospital, Kolkata, on 5.7.2021. A member of the

Committee supervised the related logistics. The post mortem

report is awaited. The brother of the deceased could not identify

the body due to its decomposition. He did not take its possession

after the post mortem and verbally demanded DNA test to fix

identity. Hence, the body is still lying in the Command Hospital. A

decision needs to be taken in the matter.

46
6) In Para 9g, Hon'ble Court issued a notice to Rashid Munir Khan,

Deputy Commissioner of Police, South Suburban Division, Kolkata.

No comments.

In Para 9h, Hon'ble Court directed all central agencies and service

providers to assist the Committee. The Committee had no

problems in obtaining logistical help from some central forces,

including accommodation (because the one provided by the State

government was not fit).

In Para 9i, Hon'ble Court directed the State to ensure preservation

of correspondence of Special Branch and logs of Control Rooms,

etc., from May 2 onwards, in a sealed cover duly signed by

members of the Committee. The Committee has not yet been

intimated by the State government about preservation of records.

Preoccupation of the Committee with field visits and compilation

of the report precluded any verification of the same. It is humbly

submitted that the State may be directed to adopt the following

procedure:-

a. Preservation of the correspondence of the Special Branch I

Intelligence Branch of the State Police from May 2 till date:-

these records should be preserved and placed in sealed

cover by the Police in Kolkata and the Member Secretary,

47
State Legal Services Authority, may countersign the sealed

cover and keep the same.

Logs of the Control Room of Police Headquarters and of

Commissioner of Police, Kolkata, from May 2 till date.

Logs of the Control Rooms of all the Districts and

Commissionerates from May 2 till date:- should be similarly

preserved and placed in sealed cover by the local Police and

the Secretary of the concerned District Legal Services

Authority may countersign the sealed cover and keep the

same.

48
 Final Thoughts!

It is indeed ironical that, in the land of Rabindra Nath Tagore, "Where

the mind is without fear and the head is held high; where the world has not

been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls'; thousands of its

citizens have been subjected to murder, rape, displacement and intimidation, etc. in

the last couple of months.

If the above mentioned worrisome trend is not arrested, where the

entire might of the governmental machinery has been used (through innumerable acts

of omission and commission) for furthering the political objectives of the party in

power, the disease may spread to other states also. This may well be death knell for

democracy in this great nation. It is high time that the rot is stemmed and this trend

is reversed in the interest of having a vibrant democracy in this nation.

The nation of 1.35 billion people watches us with bated breath.

S
S
S
I
All, the members of this Committee have gone through this Report, particularly the analysis

of Present Situation and. Recommendations, and are in agreement with the same. The

signatures of all the members of this Committee present in New Delhi are appended below.

•
•
Place: New Delhi

Date : 12/07/2021 /

.. Shri Rajiv Jam

Member, NHRC

(Head of the Committee)

. Shri Atif Rasheed Smt. (Dr.) Rajulben L. Desai

Vice Chairperson, National Commission Member, National Commission for Women

for Minorities

.
r Santo /hra • Shri Pradip Kumar Panja
Director General (Investigation), NHRC Registrar, West Bengal State Human Rights

Commission

Shri Raju Mukherjee Smt. M nziIaini

Member Secretary, West Bengal State DIG (Investigation), NHRC
Legal Service Authority