New Delhi, March 16 The Supreme Court on Monday declined to entertain an appeal filed by the West Bengal government challenging an order of the Calcutta High Court that had refused to stay the probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into the violence at Beldanga in minority-dominated Murshidabad district.
A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi observed that the Calcutta High Court had taken a “balanced view” in allowing the investigation to proceed while examining whether the material collected by the anti-terror agency disclosed a prima facie case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
During the hearing, senior advocate Kalyan Banerjee, appearing for the West Bengal government, argued that the trial court’s direction to hand over the case diary and materials to the NIA was inconsistent with the Supreme Court’s earlier order asking the Calcutta High Court to examine whether the invocation of UAPA in the case was justified.
However, the CJI Kant-led Bench remarked that access to the case diary was necessary for the NIA to comply with the earlier directions issued by the apex court.
It added that the February 11 order of the apex court had required the Calcutta High Court to examine the anti-terror agency’s report and determine whether a prima facie case for investigation under UAPA was made out. For that purpose, the contents of the case diary would have to be considered.
Observing that there was no conflict between the trial court’s direction and the Supreme Court’s earlier order, the CJI Kant-led Bench said it saw no reason to stay the Calcutta High Court’s decision permitting the probe to continue.
Earlier, the Calcutta High Court had also declined to stay the order of a trial court in Kolkata directing the transfer of the case diary to the NIA and had asked the probe agency to submit a report by March 24.
Declining to interfere with the impugned order, the Supreme Court dismissed the state government’s plea and requested the Calcutta High Court to proceed with the hearing in accordance with its schedule.
In January this year, tension and violence broke out in Beldanga following the circulation of alleged fake information about the murder of a migrant worker from the area in neighbouring Jharkhand.
The Jharkhand Police later termed the death a case of suicide based on the post-mortem report.
Subsequently, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari moved the Calcutta High Court seeking an NIA probe into the incident. Acting on the plea, the Calcutta High Court granted liberty to the Union government to take a decision on entrusting the investigation to the NIA.
The Ministry of Home Affairs later directed the Central agency to take over the probe, after which the state government approached the Supreme Court seeking to quash the order for an NIA probe.
In an order passed on February 11, the apex court asked the Calcutta High Court to independently examine whether the invocation of provisions of the UAPA by the NIA was justified in connection with the violence.
The Supreme Court had directed the anti-terror agency to place its status report before the Calcutta High Court, indicating whether a prima facie case under the UAPA was made out.
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