West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee rubbished the claims of a six member fact-finding team which concluded that the Ram Navami violence that began on March 30 in the districts of Howrah and Hooghly in the state was planned and the police were not neutral.
The interim report of the team led by former Patna High Court Justice L Narsimha Reddy found that the “riots were pre-planned, orchestrated and instigated.”
The team even questioned the state government’s role as it found that the Mamata Banerjee-led government was inefficient in handling the violence.
Justice Reddy told news agency ANI on Sunday that the team was stopped by the police from visiting the violence-hit Hooghly district. “They (police) are saying that CrPC section 144 has been imposed but nothing is here. They are scared because they will be exposed.”
The team also held the police responsible stating “innocent” people are being detained while the real miscreants are still on the run.
The team has sought a National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe into the violence.
Lashing out at the fact-finding team, chief minister Mamata Banerjee questioned the team’s authenticity, stating, “What is this fact-finding team all about? Who are they? The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is busy sending fact-finding teams, human rights teams, and what not.”
“The riots were deliberately incited by the BJP,” she added.
She also asked why would people in a Ram Navami procession brandish guns and swords, dance like maniacs with arms, and bring bulldozers.
Speaking in support of the West Bengal police, she said that all the accused who triggered the violence in Howrah on Ram Navami were from outside Bengal.
“The police hadn’t given them any permission for taking out the procession. Infact, when they had a meeting with the police officials, the organisers had said that they would take out the procession during lunch hours, but the BJP deliberately took out the rally during the time of namaz,” she said.
She claimed that all the men who were part of the rally were outsiders and not from Bengal; some were from Munger in Bihar, she stated.
“People in West Bengal are cultured and they all live together in harmony,” she said adding that the area is now calm.
“Who has come to disturb the peace here? It is the fact-finding team,” she thundered.
A fact-finding team of civil society members consisting of Justice L Narsimha Reddy (Former Chief Justice of Patna High Court), Raj Pal Singh (Former IPS officer from the Haryana Cadre), Dr Charu Wali Khanna (Advocate and former member of the National Commission for Women), OP Vyas (Advocate and former Registrar of the NHRC), senior journalist Sanjeev Nayak, and Advocate Bhavna Bajaj.
The fact-finding team was on a three-day visit to assess alleged human rights violations in the state during Ram Navami processions in Howrah and Hooghly districts.
“The trigger was the grossly inflammatory speech of the West Bengal Chief Minister,” the report stated.
The team claims to have come across several videos that reaffirm that the miscreants were exhorted to stop and target the peaceful processions.
The team in its report said that the chief minister, just before the rallies on Ram Navami, while sitting on dharna, made a call through a communal speech that any procession passing through ‘Muslim areas’ (as spoken verbatim) will be seriously acted upon.
According to the team, the West Bengal police were found completely missing in action to control rioters.
Earlier, on Monday, at a press conference, Justice Reddy (retired) said, “For three days, we have been trying to find out the present condition and whether people have the confidence or not. That’s why we were trying to go there. The police were very strict with us and did not allow us to move an inch towards the place. Police were active in organising these riots, and it could not have happened without their help.”
The team met West Bengal Governor at the Raj Bhavan in Kolkata on Monday evening.