The State of West Bengal on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court in appeal against a five-judge Bench decision of the Calcutta High Court to have the CBI investigate allegations of murder and rape committed in the aftermath of the Assembly elections.
The State said it apprehended that the CBI, a Central agency, may not probe the cases fairly. It said the investigation may become an avenue for political witch-hunting
In its decision in August, the High Court Bench had agreed with the National Human Rights Commission report of July to order CBI probe into the alleged post-poll violence.
“All the cases where, as per the report of the Committee, the allegations are about murder of a person and crime against women regarding rape/attempt to rape, shall be referred to CBI for investigation. The Committee, NHRC, any other Commission or Authority and the State shall immediately hand over entire record of the cases entrusted to the CBI for investigation,” the High Court had ordered.
Also read: Post-poll violence case: SIT not functional, Calcutta High Court told
The High Court had directed a court-monitored investigation. The Bench had ordered that the probe would be overviewed by a retired Judge of the Supreme Court.
“The heinous crime such as murder and rape deserve to be investigated by an independent agency which in circumstances can only be Central Bureau of Investigation. It is for the reason that in a number of cases, the State had failed to register the FIRs and opined the same to be not the cases of murder. This shows pre-determined mind to take investigation into a particular direction. Under such circumstances, investigation by independent agency will inspire confidence to all concerned,” the High Court had observed.
