Ex-Chief Justice of Calcutta HC to Head SIT Probe on Bengal Post-Poll Violence
Retired Chief Justice Manjula Chellur will head the Special Investigation Team
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The Calcutta High Court on Friday, 3 September, appointed its former Chief Justice, Manjula Chellur, as the head of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by it to probe alleged instances of violence that took place in the aftermath of polls in West Bengal, LiveLaw reported.
A five-judge bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal on Friday said that Chellur would oversee the functioning of the constituted SIT to look into the allegations of post-election violence in the state.
In its judgment on 19 August, the high court had ordered an SIT to be formed, comprising IPS officers Suman Bala Sahoo, Soumen Mitra, and Ranveer Kumar, to probe into criminal cases other than those of murder, rape, and crimes against women.
The high court had also ordered a court-monitored CBI probe into cases of murder and crimes against women that took place during the West Bengal post-poll violence.
The Calcutta High Court had said that the state government should hand over all records of cases to the CBI for the purpose of the investigation.
Both the CBI and the SIT had been directed to submit status reports within six weeks.
The National Human Rights Commission had said in July that the post-poll violence in the state had "resulted in disruption of life and livelihood of thousands of people and their economic strangulation" and that the situation in the state is a manifestation of the "Law of Ruler", instead of "Rule of Law".
However, the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) government had submitted an affidavit in the Calcutta High Court, where it refuted the report submitted to the court and said that the report "demonstrated bias" and had no power to suggest any probe.
(With inputs from LiveLaw and PTI)
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