The Calcutta High Court today sought a detailed report from the West Bengal government on the recent clashes in Howrah and Dalkhola, which marred Ram Navami celebrations in the state. The two-member division bench of Acting Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmoy Bhattacharya directed the state government to submit the report along with CCTV footage of the clashes by Wednesday. The Acting Chief Justice wanted to know if the police had given any permission for the rallies, and if such permission was granted, then why the police were unable to maintain peace. The next hearing is scheduled for Thursday.
This comes after violence flared up in Rishra town in Hooghly district on Sunday evening when two groups of people came to blows during a Ram Navami procession, following which prohibitory orders have been clamped and the internet services have been suspended in Hooghly district. Two Ram Navami processions were organised in the Rishra police station area, and the second one came under attack near Wellington Jute Mill More on GT Road around 6.15 p.m. on Sunday, police said.
Prohibitory orders under CrPC Section 144 were imposed in Rishra wards 1–5 and Serampore’s ward 24; internet services were suspended in some parts of the district till 10 p.m. on Monday, they said.
On Monday afternoon, BJP State President Sukanta Majumdar was prevented from reaching Rishra when a huge police contingent stopped his cavalcade at Konnagar on the crucial GT Road. Majumdar alleged that the police were preventing him from reaching the houses of injured supporters while allowing Trinamool leaders to “roam about” in the prohibited areas. The crucial GT Road was blocked by the police to prevent the BJP contingent from proceeding.
Sukanta Majumdar said that he would be speaking to BJP President JP Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the evening.
He visited BJP MLA Biman Ghosh, who was admitted to a hospital at Hind Motor with head injuries. The police said that on Sunday, when a Ram Navami procession reached a busy market area in Rishra, a group of people attacked the procession, following which fresh clashes broke out. The rally was attended by BJP vice president and Lok Sabha MP Dilip Ghosh, BJP MLA Biman Ghosh, and other leaders. BJP legislator Biman Ghosh, along with a number of police personnel, including the officer-in-charge of Rishra police station, Piyali Biswas, were injured in the clashes. The police resorted to cane charges and also fired tear gas shells to bring the situation under control. As of now, 12 people have been arrested in connection with the incident.
Claiming that the attack on the procession was pre-planned, Dilip Ghosh said it seems unlikely that the police did not have prior information about the attack on the procession. “The police should have been more careful,” he said. Trinamool Congress MLA from Serampore assembly constituency Sudipta Roy said that outsiders who participated in the procession resorted to violence in a planned way to disturb peace in the area.
