The judgement delivered by Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya of the Calcutta High Court on the Sandeshkhali horror on April 10 was not just about the headline. It was not just about the court asking the CBI to investigate the rapes, land grab and terror.
In the details and the fine print of the order lies the true picture of West Bengal under Mamata Banerjee’s TMC government.
The judgement points to a complete collapse of trust between the people and the government, between victims and the police, and between the law and its enforcers.
While transferring the probe from the West Bengal police to the CBI, the court directed “completion of the investigation in a Fast Track Court situated at Delhi and to direct the State of West Bengal to initiate stringent disciplinary action as well as penal action against the erring policemen”.
It is important to recall that the state’s Opposition has accused Mamata’s handpicked DGP Rajeev Kumar, the highest-ranking police official in the state, of camping in Sandeshkhali to bully victims.
The court noted: “Learned advocate appearing for one of the petitioners…submitted that there are several ladies who want to lodge complaints but they are afraid to come to the camp organised by the police authority fearing that they will further be exposed to more violence.”
So far, 43 FIRs have been registered in Sandeshkhali horror. The earliest one was registered four years ago and the last one on February 10, 2024. Out of these 43 FIRs, chargesheets have been made in 42 cases. Of 24 registered cases of land grab, charge sheets have been filed in seven.
The additional solicitor general of India had submitted that “they have an apprehension that if the state police makes an arrest…there is a likelihood of the case being diluted by the state police as the CBI and ED have serious reservations against the state police and there is also an allegation that they are colluding with the absconding accused”.
The court noted that “eyewitnesses to the various incidents are still living in the locality and are required to be given adequate protection and in this regard referred to the Witness Protection Scheme, 2018”.
In another serious indictment of the politicisation of institutions in Bengal, the court said: “We take note of the submission made by the learned Advocate General who had contended that a public interest litigation cannot be a political interest or personal interest litigation and in all these cases there is a gross display of personal interest and the court should not be swayed by the crocodile tears which are shed before the court and an attempt is made to misguide this court.”
It also said: “The cases of land grabbing are not solitary cases but are alleged to be large scale land grabbing. Therefore, if lands have been grabbed and mutation has been done in the revenue records then it goes without saying that the state machinery is also involved in the process.”
The report of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes team which visited Sandeshkhali on February 22 also made a mark in the proceedings.
“The women are rounded up at night from their homes and asked to accompany them to a particular place and if they resist, their husbands and sons are beaten up. Thereafter the women were molested and the vulnerable ones who cannot fight back were raped. Further, it has been stated that complaints to the local police were not registered due to fear psychosis and also since they did not have any faith that any action will be taken,” the court noted. “The team has observed that there is a fear among the people including the scheduled tribes from the accused and their accomplices and all the persons who met the team have suffered from atrocities committed in the form of physical assault, molestation, land grabbing, threatening and mental torture. Further, the report states that the local police seem to be hand in glove with the accused who belonged to a political party.”
The court has ordered the CBI to create a dedicated portal/email ID to which the complaints can be lodged confidentially. The district magistrate of North 24 Parganas must give enough local publicity to the portal, and issue a public notice in Bengali in dailies having wide circulation.
Lastly, the state government, police and local bodies must install CCTV cameras and LED lights in Sandeshkhali from state funds within 15 days, the HC has ordered.
Almost every one of the 27 pages of the Calcutta high court order captures vividly and tragically the complete breakdown of trust between a people and their elected government.
Abhijit Majumder is a senior journalist. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.
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