The Supreme Court on Friday did not intervene in an order of the Calcutta High Court handing over the probe into incidents of violence during Ram Navami celebrations in West Bengal to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
A Bench of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justices P.S. Narasimha and K.V. Viswanathan deferred the hearing in the case to a date after summer vacation.
“We have not stayed the High Court order and will take up the matter after summer vacation in the month of July,” the court told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the NIA.
The anti-terror probe agency has registered the case following a High Court order.
During the hearing, senior advocates Abhishek Singhvi and Gopal Sankaranarayanan, representing the West Bengal government, said the High Court had in its order referred to only one FIR related to the Chandan Nagar incident.
Mr. Singhvi said the NIA could not be brought in for ordinary cases of violence unless it affected the country’s security or sovereignty.
“Assuming that the High Court has referred to one FIR but all these incidents are part and parcel of the same transactions. Police used tear gas to control the situation and the High Court has applied its mind that there is enough material to refer it to the NIA,” the court observed orally.
On April 27, the Calcutta High Court had ordered a probe by the NIA into the incidents of violence at Shibpur in Howrah and Rishra in Hooghly district during and after the Ram Navami celebrations.
