NHRC submits final report on Bengal post-poll violence

THE COURT ASKED NHRC TO GIVE COPIES TO THE STATE AND ALL THE PETITIONERS, SAID THE ADVOCATE REPRESENTING THE VICTIMS

KOLKATA The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Tuesday afternoon submitted its final report on post-poll violence in West Bengal during hearing of the case by a five-judge bench of Calcutta high court headed by acting chief justice Rajesh Bindal.

The voluminous report and its annexures were submitted in sealed envelopes. The NHRC filed an interim report on July 2.

Senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Kapil Sibal, who are representing the state government, said copies of the interim and final reports should be given to the state government so that it may prepare its reply.

The court asked the NHRC to give copies to the state and all the petitioners, said advocate

Priyanka Tibrewal, who is representing many victims of the alleged violence.

Tibrewal filed a supplementary affidavit seeking DNA test to identify the body of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporter Abhijit Sarkar who was allegedly strangled to death by a mob in the Narkeldanga area of Kolkata on May 2, the day the assembly poll results were declared.

The court ordered a DNA test by the Central Forensic Science

Laboratory and asked for the report to be submitted within a week. The bench had earlier ordered a fresh autopsy of the body at the army’s Command Hospital in Kolkata. The victim’s brother, Biswajit Sarkar, is among the petitioners who moved the Supreme Court in May seeking formation of a special investigation team for probing alleged violence by Trinamool Congress (TMC) workers.

Tibrewal told the court on Tuesday that members of Sarkar’s family could not identify the body. The court said that DNA samples from the corpse should be matched with the DNA of Biswajit Sarkar.

Representing the state, advocate general Kishor Dutta accused Sarkar’s family of not cooperating with the police. He said several attempts were made to record their statements.