West Bengal post-poll violence shows a pernicious politico-bureaucratic-criminal nexus; has national security implications: NHRC report

The final report of the Enquiry Committee of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) set up to probe the post-poll violence in West Bengal has accused the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) of turning affairs into the "law of ruler", instead of "rule of law." .The seven-member committee recommended that grievous offences including murder, rape, should be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for investigation, and that such cases should be tried outside the State."The other cases should be investigated by a court-monitored special investigation team (SIT). For adjudication, there should be fast track courts, Special PP and Witness Protection Scheme," the 50-page report stated..The report also pointed out that "thousands of citizens have been subjected to murder, rape, displacement and intimidation, etc. in the last couple of months" in the aftermath of the West Bengal elections."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," the Committee warned..It concludes by stating that if this trend of violence is not arrested,"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.".The Committee's analysis of statements of victims and complainants along with documents, data and other related information collected from spot enquiries and camp sittings revealed that a "large number of criminals, who enjoy State patronage and support, were responsible for abetting, planning, organising and even committing offences in a systematic and widespread manner.""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," it stated..The following are the numbers pertaining to complaints and registration of crimes by the Police:A long list of complaints received in NHRC which are approx. 1,650 in number, consisting of 5,000 victims approximately 315 complaints covering approx. 9,949 victims received in WB-SLSA and ATR collected by SLSA from Govt. of West Bengal. A list of 57 complaints related to women received from the National Commission for Women. Out of 9,304 accused cited in the FIRs, only 1,354 (14%) have been arrested and, out of these arrested, 11,086 (80%) are already on bail. Thus, overall speaking, less than 3% of the accused are in jail, while 97% are out in the open. 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. When the NHRC operational teams visited 311 places/spots, additionally, 2,869 people/victims approached them with petitions requesting for enquiry and registration of cases, which is (900%) or nine times the victims covered by the team. NCW Member visited seven districts and met around 425 complainants and victims and got their statements recorded herself and through her team members In camp sittings, a total of 1,036 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 were also reported..The Committee noted the lack of cooperation from the Chief Secretary and DGP West Bengal. "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," it claimed..Relying on the above data, the Committee recorded in the report that the percentage of accused arrested out of the total cited and the percentage that was in custody was abysmally low, demonstrating the "inept performance" of the local police..The complicity of the police with goons of the ruling party was also alleged by most of the victims, the report states. "This was manifest in several ways: victims were implicated in false cases by the Police, or Police lodged counter cases against the victims by the accused, or the Police pre-dated such counter cases...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...".The report also records the visits by NCW's Dr Rajulben L Desai to a number of districts. Desai was also stated to have visited villages that are affected by the post-poll violence and observed that there was "fear in the eyes of victims and their family members" as they did not want say anything against the State/police authorities. The reason behind the hesitancy was that if they made a complaint, then the goons of TMC will further victimize their family members."The complainants also stated that there is no support or security provided by the Police officials and they even got pressurised by police to withdraw the complaint or else they refused to take the complaints. 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," the report added..Given its findings, the NHRC Committee called for a CBI probe into serious cases involving murder, unnatural deaths, rape and grievous hurt, and others. Trial of these cases should be conducted outside the State, it was recommended..A Court-monitored Special Investigation Team (SIT) was recommended for probing other cases. Fast Track Courts should adjudicate on these cases, the Committee said..Recommendations are also made for ex gratia compensation of victims, compensation for property damage, witness protection scheme, rehabilitation, proactive policing, and protection of women, among others..The seven-member Committee was headed by Rajiv Jain, Member of NHRC. It also comprised Atif Rasheed, Vice Chairperson, National Commission for Minorities; Dr Rajulben L Desai, Member National Commission for Women; Santosh Mehra, Director General (Investigation), NHRC; Pradip Kumar Panja, Registrar, West Bengal State Human Rights Commission; Raju Mukherjee, Member Secretary, West Bengal State Legal Services Authority; and Manzil Saini, DIG (Investigation), NHRC..The Calcutta High Court is currently hearing a plea alleging displacement of persons in the aftermath of the post-poll violence in the State. On the last date of hearing, a copy of the final NHRC report was directed to be served to all parties..Earlier this month, the High Court had issued a show cause notice for contempt of court proceedings against the Deputy Commissioner of Police of South Kolkata for failing to prevent obstruction one of the Committee members who was visiting Jadavpur..The Court also ordered a second post mortem to be conducted with respect to BJP worker Avijit Sarkar, who was allegedly killed by a mob in the wake of the post-poll violence in the State..[BREAKING] Calcutta High Court issues contempt of court notice to South Kolkata DCP after obstruction of NHRC team probing post-poll violence.[Read the report]