KOLKATA: Calcutta high court on Wednesday ordered a court-monitored CBI investigation into multiple complaints about crimes against women and land grabbing in West Bengal’s Sandeshkhali, home of arrested former Trinamool Congress strongman Sheikh Shahjahan.
Hearing a petition for an inquiry commission led by a retired high court judge, a division bench of Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya directed CBI to conduct the probe since the central agency was already probing the Jan 5 attack on ED officers headed to Sandeshkhali for a search of Shahjahan’s residence.
Calcutta HC says will monitor entire Sandeshkhali investigation
HC asked CBI to create a portal and provide a mailing address for residents of Sandeshkhali to anonymously lodge complaints. It recorded the statement of a woman who has alleged she was abducted from her home and gang-raped till she collapsed.
The bench also took cognisance of a joint petition that 12 Oraon women submitted to a team from the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes visiting the restive North 24 Parganas pocket. The court directed CBI to conduct a spot inspection of bheris (water bodies for rearing fish) created through the allegedly illegal conversion of farmland and follow up with a thorough inspection of revenue records.
It sought a comprehensive status report from the central agency during the next hearing. The bench said it would “monitor the entire investigation” and issue further orders based on the CBI report. CBI is authorised to requisition staff from the state administration, quasi-govt organisations, NGOs and people who may be genuinely interested in “furnishing information”, the judges said.
Hearing a petition for an inquiry commission led by a retired high court judge, a division bench of Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya directed CBI to conduct the probe since the central agency was already probing the Jan 5 attack on ED officers headed to Sandeshkhali for a search of Shahjahan’s residence.
Calcutta HC says will monitor entire Sandeshkhali investigation
HC asked CBI to create a portal and provide a mailing address for residents of Sandeshkhali to anonymously lodge complaints. It recorded the statement of a woman who has alleged she was abducted from her home and gang-raped till she collapsed.
The bench also took cognisance of a joint petition that 12 Oraon women submitted to a team from the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes visiting the restive North 24 Parganas pocket. The court directed CBI to conduct a spot inspection of bheris (water bodies for rearing fish) created through the allegedly illegal conversion of farmland and follow up with a thorough inspection of revenue records.
It sought a comprehensive status report from the central agency during the next hearing. The bench said it would “monitor the entire investigation” and issue further orders based on the CBI report. CBI is authorised to requisition staff from the state administration, quasi-govt organisations, NGOs and people who may be genuinely interested in “furnishing information”, the judges said.