Murshidabad violence victims anxious about safety, State must ensure protection: Calcutta HC

Calcutta High Court emphasizes safety, rehabilitation, and protection for victims of Murshidabad violence, urging State intervention.

The Calcutta High Court observed that victims of Murshidabad violence are anxious about their safety in the violence-affected areas, and said that the State must ensure their rehabilitation, safety and protection.

“They should be restored to their original place after restoring confidence in the system. In the interregnum, the State must ensure proper shelter and accommodation to the victim. Upon restoration and rehabilitation, the State must ensure their safety and security. It should be the duty of the administration to ensure peace, harmony and protection of the property and lives of the victims,” a Division Bench of Justices Soumen Sen and Raja Basu Chowdhury stated on Thursday (May 15).

Violence had erupted in Murshidabad’s Samsherganj police station area on April 11 and April 12 following a protest against the passage of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025. In the extended areas of Dhulian municipality and Tinpakuria gram panchayat, several houses and shops were torched and vandalised on these two days.

On April 12, a father and son were killed in Samsherganj’s Jafrabad during the violence, and another person died in police firing in Suti police station area.

A three-member committee was formed in April on the directions of the Calcutta High Court to submit a report for the restoration of normalcy and rehabilitation of the victims. It has one member each from the National Human Rights Commission, West Bengal State Human Rights Commission and the State Legal Services Authority.

The court in its May 15 order stated, “It is revealed from the report of the committee that the vandalism and massacre are premeditated and appears to be an organized crime.”

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