NHRC team probing post-poll violence in Bengal attacked

Kolkata: A team of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) which had been asked by the Calcutta High Court to probe post-poll violence in Bengal was attacked when it went to Jadavpur in Kolkata to look into the complaints.

Atif Rasheed, one of the members of the NHRC fact-finding team told IANS that the team visited Jadavpur to follow up on the complaints from the people that their houses were destroyed.

A video posted by Rasheed on Twitter showed an angry mob of men and women threatening him. Rasheed, as seen in the video, kept telling the mob that they could not behave in that manner and had to take a step back. The CISF personnel could be seen trying to control the irate mob.

In another video, Rasheed can be seen walking away from the mob. Talking to the camera, Rasheed says that he and his team have been attacked by a mob of Trinamool Congress supporters.

Rasheed also revealed that he found about 40 houses that belonged to BJP workers which had been burnt to the ground. He further said that for the past two months, nobody knows the whereabouts of the BJP activists.

In another development, the fact-finding team constituted by the Union Home Ministry submitted has its report to Union Minister of State for Home, G. Kishan Reddy.

The committee that was formed to look into the post-poll violence in West Bengal said in its report that 25 people were killed after the elections. There have been 15,000 incidents of violence and 7,000 women have been tortured, it said.

The people were made to leave their homes and take shelter in Assam, it said. Some people's houses were completely burnt and destroyed, even as they were not allowed to work. The connecting bridge to a village that voted for a particular party was demolished, the report said, adding that water connections were also been snapped.

The committee said that people of a particular party were targeted and attacked, adding that the police acted very negligently. Instead of giving justice to those people, the police registered a case against them. Apart from this, despite complaints, the police did not arrest anyone, it added.

Quoting the report, one of the committee members said that the violence was not sporadic or done in a fit of temper but it was premeditated, well-planned and widespread.

The local mafias and criminals were used to trigger violence and that was done by one political party against the supporters of another political party, he said.

The political violence took place in 16 districts. Due to the damage done during the violence, people have gone to other states in fear, the report said.

The report will now be examined by the Ministry of Home Affairs following which action will be initiated.