Kolkata: A Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court on Friday extended the retention of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) in West Bengal till June 26.
Initially, the Election Commission of India (ECI) had decided to retain 400 companies of the CAPF in West Bengal till June 19.
Later, another Bench of the Calcutta High Court extended the same till Friday. However, after a detailed hearing on Friday afternoon, the Division Bench of Justice Harish Tandon and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya extended the retention of these 400 companies till June 26.
The Bench also made some strong observations over the continued flow of complaints relating to post-poll violence from different pockets in the state.
“Several complaints on this count have surfaced before, and fresh complaints are surfacing every day. We want to have a clear picture of the scenario. We want the displaced to return to their homes by next Tuesday. The police need to be more active in those pockets where complaints continue to surface,” observed the Bench.
On Friday, the counsel of the West Bengal government raised a question on whether the CAPF companies can be retained for such a long time without the permission of the state government.
In his counter argument, the Centre’s counsel claimed that from the state government’s report submitted to the court it is clear that the situation has not improved much and hence the CAPF companies should be retained for some more time.
On June 18, the state government submitted a report at the Division Bench that the office of the state Director General of Police had received 560 complaints of post-poll violence from June 6 to June 12, on the basis of which 107 FIRs were filed.
Finally, the Division Bench accepted the argument of the Union government’s counsel and ordered retention of CAPF till June 26.
–IANS