Panchayat polls: Mamata govt challenges Calcutta HC’s order for FIR against cops

The West Bengal government on Wednesday approached the division bench of Calcutta High Court's Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam against an earlier order of a single-judge bench that directed it to file FIRs against two senior police officers.

The single- judge bench of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha of the same court had asked the state government to file FIRs against two senior police officials of South 24 Parganas district in relation to violence during the nomination phases for the panchayat elections at Canning in the same district.

The division bench has admitted the petition and the matter will come up for hearing on July 5.

Recently Justice Mantha directed the state government to file FIRs against a sub- division police officer (SDPO) and an inspector-in- charge (IC) at Canning for alleged police inaction as violence broke out in the area during the nomination phase. 

In the petition filed by estranged Trinamool Congress leader Sirajul Islam Gharami, it was alleged that on June 11, while he was accompanying several independent candidates to the local block development office to file the nominations they were attacked and severely beaten up by the ruling party activists.

Gharami also alleged in the petition that despite being present at the spot with a huge police contingent, the SDOP and the IC concerned did not take any action. 

He claimed that bullets were fired by the ruling party activists on that day in which seven independent candidates were injured. 

As per his petition, the police, instead of taking action against the offenders, acted against the two injured persons.  

Thereafter, Justice Mantha ordered that FIRs should be filed against the SDPO and IC concerned. Now, the state government has challenged that order at a higher bench.