HC refuses to stay NIA probe into Beldanga violence

Kolkata: Calcutta High Court on Thursday refused to stay the NIA probe into the violence that broke out in Murshidabad district's Beldanga in Jan and upheld a trial court order to hand over the case diary to the agency. The central agency was directed to file a report on March 24. The Supreme Court had earlier sent the case to the HC to consider if a prima facie case could be made under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).A division bench of Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Partha Sarathi Sen observed: "In order to come to a logical conclusion as to whether a prima facie case for investigation under UAPA was made out or not, the NIA is duty-bound to submit its report, post-investigation and during the investigation."
"In order to enable the NIA to submit its report, it must obtain the case diary related to the case, without which it is practically impossible for the agency to submit its report," the bench said.The state govt had approached the HC seeking an interim stay on the NIA probe.It had argued that the state investigating agency had not initiated a case under UAPA on account of any terrorist activity, therefore the Centre's decision to give the probe to NIA could not sustain judicial scrutiny.It had also sought that the trial court's order to hand over the case diary to NIA should be stayed.The state's counsel argued that the local police station started a case under sections of the BNS, the West Bengal Maintenance of Public Order Act and Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.The counsel for the NIA submitted that a perusal of the written complaint would reveal that the accused carried inflammable material in containers to set fire to shops and vehicles.Violence had broken out in Beldanga with protesters damaging property and blocking highways over the alleged murder of a local youth in Jharkhand.