NHRC report: HC allows Bengal govt to file supplementary affidavits

The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday granted the West Bengal government time to file supplementary affidavits by July 31 in connection with an NHRC inquiry committee report on alleged post-poll violence in the state.

Kolkata (West Bengal): The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday granted the West Bengal government time to file supplementary affidavits by July 31 in connection with an NHRC inquiry committee report on alleged post-poll violence in the state.

A five-judge bench, presided by Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal, directed that the matter will be taken up for hearing again on August 2. The high court granted the state government time to file the supplementary affidavits following a prayer by it.

The DNA report of deceased BJP labor wing leader Avijit Sarkar was also submitted by the additional solicitor general before the bench, which was hearing PILs claiming assault on people, forcing them to flee homes, and destruction of property due to violence following the assembly elections.

Read: Calcutta HC moves SC against its own judge

The court had directed a DNA matching of Sarkar with his brother for identification. A second autopsy had earlier been carried out at the Command Hospital here on an order by the bench.

The NHRC committee, set up by its chairman on a direction by the court, had made scathing comments on the law and order situation in West Bengal in its final report submitted before it on July 13.

The state government, in an affidavit submitted on Monday, denied the findings of the report and alleged that it is politically motivated and aimed at maligning the Mamata Banerjee dispensation.

Read: NHRC panel members probing post-poll violence share ties with BJP: WB govt in affidavit before HC

(PTI)