Shillong, April 27: The Calcutta High Court on Thursday ordered National Investigation Agency (NIA) investigation into the violence that occurred during Ram Navami this year in Howrah, Hooghly, and Dalkhola.
The NIA must receive all relevant documents for the investigation within two weeks, according to a division bench of the acting chief justice.
The high court’s decision followed a PIL filed by BJP MLA Subhendu Adhikari asking for an NIA investigation into the West Bengali violence against Ram Navami.
When a Ram Navami parade was carried out in West Bengal’s Howrah city last year fighting broke out between two groups. During the unrest, shops were looted, cars were set on fire, and stones were thrown.
A sizable police force was sent into the city after unrest ruined Ram Navami celebrations.
Thousands of people participated in those processions at Howrah, Kharagpur, Barrackpore, Bhadreswar, Siliguri, and Asansol while chanting “Jai Shri Ram” slogans. Large cutouts of Lord Ram, drumbeats, and saffron banners were all major elements of these processions.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) received a complaint saying that miscreants attacked a Ram Navami procession in West Bengal’s Howrah district despite having permission to do so, leading to the high court’s decision.