CISF Firing In Sitalkuchi : Calcutta High Court Seeks State's Response On CBI's Plea To Take Over Probe From WB CID

The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed the State government and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to place their respective positions on record on the plea moved by the CBI seeking to take over the investigation into the incident of firing by CISF personnel on April 10, 2021, at Sitalkuchi in Cooch Behar district during the West Bengal Assembly polls.

Four people were allegedly killed in the incident at a polling booth at Mathabhanga in Cooch Behar district. Security forces had said then that the CISF had opened fire after "coming under attack from locals". The state's Crime Investigation Department is currently investigating the case, on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's orders. 

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju appearing for the CBI submitted before a Bench comprising Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj that pursuant to the order of the 5 judge Bench of the High Court dated August 19, 2021, the investigation of 2 cases pertaining to the incident of alleged firing by CISF personnel must be transferred to the CBI. The two cases are- (1) Mathabhanga PS FIR No.180/2021 dated 10.04.2021 and (2) Mathabhanga PS FIR No.181/2021 dated 12.04.2021.

It may be noted that Court vide order dated August 19, 2021 had handed over to the CBI the investigation of cases related to murder, rape and crime against women whereas a SIT had been constituted to investigate other criminal cases related to post-poll violence.

The ASG had earlier apprised the Court that a representation had been made vide letter dated January 6, 2022 to the West Bengal's Director General of Police (DGP) Manoj Malviya requesting him to hand over the two cases to the CBI. He had further submitted that two reminder letters dated January 21 and March 11 had also been sent however the DGP, West Bengal had failed to respond to them.

The Bench vide order dated April 20, 2022, had taken cognisance of the grievance raised and had accordingly directed the CBI to send a copy of the representation to the Advocate General and further directed the Advocate General to respond to the same and further apprise the Court about it on the next date of hearing.

However, on Tuesday, ASG Raju submitted that such a direction of the Court has not yet been complied with by the State government and that the cases and the relevant records have not yet been transferred to the CBI. 

On the other hand, Advocate General S.N Mookherjee opposed the prayer made by the CBI for transfer of investigation by contending that the concerned incident did not take place subsequent to the Assembly polls and is thus not the subject matter of the category of cases that the CBI has been instructed to probe by the 5-judge Bench order of the Court. He further argued that it is an admitted fact that the firing had taken place by CISF personnel and thus there are no allegations against the State police authorities. 

Pursuant to the rival submissions, the Court directed the State government as well as the CBI to place their respective stand on record before the next date of hearing which is slated to take place on July 11. 

Background 

As reported in the media, four villagers of Jor Patki village in Sitalkuchi were killed in the firing of the central forces in West Bengal and one person was killed by some unknown miscreants while coming out after casting vote.

The CISF personnel had opened fire after they allegedly came under attack from a group of villagers at 126/5 in Jorpatki in Sitalkuchi Assembly constituency where polling was underway for the fourth phase of West Bengal election 2021 on April 10. West Bengal Criminal Investigation Department (CID) took over the case on April 16.

The Election Commission has already given a clean chit to the CISF for opening fire in Sitalkurchi Assembly constituency in Cooch Behar, saying that opening fire "became necessary to save the lives of the voters" and it was made in "self-defense".

Further, the Commission had also canceled the voting at the polling station after the incident and imposed a ban on the entry of politicians into Cooch Behar for 72 hours apprehending trouble.

Case Title: Anindya Sundar Das v. Union of India and other connected matters 

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