Kolkata: A single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court, on Tuesday, referred a petition demanding a CBI probe into the murder of Hargobindo Das and Chandan Das, the father and son duo killed at Samserganj in Murshidabad district of West Bengal during the communal violence there last month, to the Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam.
The Chief Justice will now decide on which bench will be allotted to hear the matter.
The petition for a CBI probe in the matter was filed by the widows of the two men at the single-judge bench of Justice Tirthanker Ghosh. As the matter came up for hearing on Tuesday morning, Justice Ghosh said he would not hear the matter since a case related to Murshidabad violence last month is already being heard at a special division bench of Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Raja Basu Chowdhury.
Thereafter, Justice Ghosh referred the matter to the Chief Justice for further allotment.
Besides appealing for the CBI probe on the matter, the widows also placed an appeal for the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) security for them. Legal circles believe that the petitioners now have two legal options.
The first option is to wait for the decision of the Chief Justice on the new bench to hear the matter.
The second option is approaching the special division bench of Justice Sen and Justice Basu Chowdhury on the next date of hearing in the matter of Murshidabad communal violence, which is scheduled on May 15.
On Monday, the National Commission for Women (NCW) issued a statement claiming to have taken urgent cognisance of a plea from the widows of the slain father and son.
As per the NCW statement, the letter sent by the widows to Commission chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar was not merely a complaint but a desperate cry for justice, written by two grieving women forced into hiding, haunted by loss, and terrified of the very system meant to protect them.
The father-son duo died after being brutally attacked by a Muslim mob on April 12 in Jafrabad village under Shamsherganj police station. The Muslims were protesting against the Waqf Act and attacked the two Hindus in their home.
Later, two brothers, neighbours of the two victims, were arrested. One of the two widows had named them and five others in her FIR, whom she could identify in a mob of 150-200 armed people. She had said the mob barged into their home and dragged her husband and son out before hacking them to death.
(IANS)
