A Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court has ruled that individuals in West Bengal cannot be evicted from their homes or businesses due to political ties. The court, led by Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Partha Sarathi Sen, also instructed the West Bengal Police and Kolkata Police to take decisive measures to prevent post-election violence in the state.
This ruling came during a hearing of a public interest litigation concerning reported incidents of post-election violence in West Bengal following the announcement of the Assembly poll results on May 4. Notably, former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee represented the petitioner during the proceedings.
The case is set to be revisited in five weeks, with the Division Bench deciding whether to refer it to a five-judge panel, similar to a previous case involving post-election violence after the 2021 West Bengal polls. All involved parties have been directed to submit affidavits before the next hearing, where the court will determine the need for a larger bench based on the provided information.
During the hearing, Mamata Banerjee urged the court to intervene in preventing post-election violence in the state, emphasizing the need to protect all residents, especially those from minority groups, women, and children. In response, state government counsel Dhiraj Trivedi dismissed Banerjee’s claims as unsubstantiated, highlighting the lack of specific instances of violence cited in the petition.
