Calcutta HC seeks reports on violence in Sandeshkhali during Bengal panchayat polls

Kolkata: As Sandeshkhali in West Bengal continued to simmer, the Calcutta High Court on Friday directed the state government to submit details of complaints of violence received from the area during panchayat polls last year.

A Division Bench of Calcutta High Court Chief Justice, TS Sivagnanam, on Friday, verbally informed the state government’s counsel that he distinctly remembered that a case pertaining to poll violence at Sandeshkhali was referred to his Bench during the time of panchayat polls. He asked the state government to get the details of the case and submit that to his Bench.

The Chief Justice also sought the details of the petitioner in this case.

He gave this direction while hearing a matter related to the ongoing tension in Sandeshkhali which has been on the boil for nearly 15 days.

The matter will come up for hearing again on February 26 and by then the state government will have to submit to the court the details of poll violence at Sandeshkhali last year.

Meanwhile, an association of lawyers on Friday made an appeal at the Calcutta High Court’s single-judge Bench of Justice Kausik Chanda, seeking permission to visit Sandeshkhali where fresh prohibitory orders under Section 144 have been issued.

Justice Chanda advised the petitioners to apply to the state government seeking permission and wait for 48 hours. “If the state government does not provide permission within that period, only then the petition would be accepted by the court,” Justice Chanda observed.