Kolkata: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government on Saturday decided to take action in the wake of the violence during the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests in West Bengal.
In 2019, there were allegations of vandalism and arson at various places in the state during the anti-CAA protests.
Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has directed the West Bengal Director General Siddh Nath Gupta to investigate the allegations.
In December 2019, the Citizenship Amendment Bill was passed by both Houses of the Parliament. Later, it became a law with the assent of the President Droupadi Murmu.
At that time, protests against the CAA were taking place across the country and in West Bengal.
There were allegations of destruction of government properties in West Bengal under the guise of the anti-CAA movement.
There were allegations of vandalism and arson at various places as well as burning buses and destruction of railway property.
After the change of government in West Bengal, the BJP government is trying to take action in the wake of those allegations.
On Saturday, the Chief Minister directed the state police DGP to investigate all the complaints filed against people for destruction of government property during the 2019 anti-CAA protests.
He also directed the formation of a special cell of the state police to look into the complaints related to these protests.
According to an administrative official, the office of this Special Cell of the police will be set up in Chief Minister Adhikari’s Assembly constituency of Bhabanipur.
A new file will be created after investigating the old complaints.
The state government has also decided that if the complaint against anyone is proven, compensation will be recovered from the person concerned.
The cooperation of the Railway Police will also be taken to investigate the complaints related to arson or looting in all areas of the Railways.
According to administrative sources, there were more allegations of property destruction in Murshidabad district and Uluberia area in Howrah.
There were allegations of vandalism and arson at the Beldanga police station. There were also incidents of train arson and looting at the police station in Uluberia.
(IANS)
