No effective contribution of Bengal govt's SIT to Birbhum violence probe: Calcutta HC
India Today
Birbhum violence: The Calcutta High Court has observed that the special investigation team constituted by the Bengal government to probe the Birbhum violence case had failed to make any significant contribution to the investigation.
The Calcutta High Court on Friday, March 25, pulled up the Bengal government's special investigation team formed to investigate the Birbhum violence case and said that it had failed to make any significant contribution to the probe.
The Calcutta HC on Friday ordered the SIT to hand over the case to the CBI.
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It also observed that cops had failed to reach the spot of the incident despite the police station being in the vicinity.Eight people in Bengal's Birbhum were killed after their houses were set on fire on March 22. The incident occurred after the death of a TMC leader. The deceased included three women and two children. Among the deceased were a newly-wed couple, Lily Khatoon and Qazi Sajidur. The autopsy of the bodies reportedly revealed that the victims had been thrashed before being burnt alive.
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"The case diary of the incident has been produced before us. We have minutely examined it. We find that though the SIT was constituted on March 22, till now there has been no effective contribution by the SIT to the investigation. It has been submitted that in spite of the fact that the police station is very near to the spot of incident, the police did not reach on time and persons trapped inside the houses kept on burning," the HC observed.
The incident prompted locals to flee the Bogtui village in Rampurhat where the violence occurred. The Bengal government formed an SIT and at least 20 people were arrested. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced Rs 5 lakh compensation for the families of the victims.
