Over 600 Academicians Urge SC to Set Up SIT to Probe Post-poll Violence in West Bengal

A group of over 600 professors and vice chancellors on Tuesday appealed to the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognisance of the post-poll violence in West Bengal and set up a special investigation team (SIT) to probe such incidents. In a statement, they claimed that a large section of the Bengali society is living under fear and alleged that those who “voted against the TMC in the recently held assembly elections are being victimised.” Thousands of people have migrated to the adjoining states of Assam, Odisha and Jharkhand due to fear of getting killed or attacked by “hooligans supported by the ruling party of Bengal,” they claimed.

“We appeal for inquiry by independent authorities like National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and also appeal to the Supreme Court to take suo motu notice of the matter and set up SIT to investigate the incidents,” the group said. Stating that such acts of violence and politics of terror undermine the Constitution and destroy the basic building blocks of democracy, they said it should not be tolerated. The BJP has blamed the state’s ruling Trinamool Congress for the violence, while the TMC has accused the saffron party of politicising incidents of violence in which, it has said, its workers have also lost lives. The state government has also refuted the allegations of large-scale violence.

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