Kolkata (IANS) | A division bench of the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday directed the West Bengal government to deploy central armed forces on April 6, the auspicious occasion of Hanuman Jayanti, to avoid a repeat of the violence witnessed during Ram Navami processions.
The violence broke out in the three districts on March 30 and continued till the night of April 3.
Calcutta High Court Acting Chief Justice T.S. A bench of Justices Sivagnanam and Hiranmoy Bhattacharya directed the state government to identify sensitive areas in the state and take the help of central armed forces there.
Along with this, the division also directed the state police to conduct route marches in those pockets from Wednesday night only for the purpose of area domination. Justice Sivagnanam said, looking into the matter, it is clear that the state police alone cannot manage the cases.
The intelligence wing of the state police also faced criticism from the bench for having no prior information about a possible outbreak of violence on Ram Navami processions.
The court said that no procession would be allowed in the area where Section 144 has been imposed amid incidents of violence in the recent past.
The bench also suggested whether the procession on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti can be carried out through the same areas as is done in the case of Ganesh Chaturthi procession in Maharashtra.
The counsel for the State Government told the Court that though it would not be possible to put up barricades for all the processions in all corners of the State, the same would be done in case of sensitive areas.
The counsel for the state government also told the court that the police will take action against the organizers of the processions who flout the restrictions imposed. The organizers will also have to inform the police about the expected crowd in the concerned procession and the organizers will also have to be present at the time limit given for the same.
–IANS
