People who cannot maintain peace don’t deserve polls: Calcutta high court

KOLKATA: People unable to maintain peace during a six-hour celebration don't deserve elected representation, Calcutta high court asserted Tuesday, while expressing dismay over clashes in Murshidabad district of Bengal during Ram Navami festivities on April 17 that left at least 19 wounded.

Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya held that Lok Sabha polls scheduled for May 4 and 13 in the region should be countermanded.

"If people can't live in peace and harmony, we will countermand the elections...If two sects of people are fighting like this despite the model code of conduct in place, they don't require an elected representative," the CJ said.

The bench made these observations while hearing petitions, including one by Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM), seeking an NIA or a CBI probe into the violence at Beldanga and Saktipur in Murshidabad. Clashes in Shaktipur occurred immediately after a Ram Navami procession passed by a local mosque.

The CJ said that as per news reports, around 33 programmes were held on Ram Navami in Kolkata, but there was no untoward incident. Noting that both the petitioners were on the same page that no such incident occurred in those places in Murshidabad on Ram Navami earlier, the court asked whether outsiders were involved.

The CJ questioned govt pleader Amitesh Banerjee regarding events that triggered the clashes. Banerjee explained: "Some people walking down the streets found two flags hung in the area torn." To this, the judge remarked: "Lessons are never learnt. It is possibly because of elections." He highlighted that Ram Navami celebrations in 33 places in Kolkata proceeded peacefully.

The govt pleader detailed the timeline of the clashes, saying they occurred in two phases - on April 12-13 and on April 17. He noted that prohibitory measures were imposed, but violence erupted again on April 17, prompting CID intervention in the investigation.

In response to the petitioner's counsel, who highlighted the unprecedented nature of the clashes during religious celebrations in Murshidabad, Chief Justice Sivagnanam directed the state's advocate general to file a report during the next hearing scheduled for April 26. "Who triggered the clash? Is he an outsider?" the CJ asked.