Supreme Court dismisses West Bengal government appeal against NIA probe into Ram Navami violence

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the appeal by the West Bengal government challenging the Calcutta High Court order transferring the probe into the cases concerning the Ram Navami violence to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). [State of West Bengal v. Suvendu Adhikari].A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra passed the order today after noting that there was no challenge made to the Central government notification issued under Section 6 (5) of the NIA Act, by which the Centre had ultimately taken suo motu cognisance of the issue.."The precise contours of investigation which should be carried by NIA cannot be anticipated at this stage. In this backdrop and in the absence of a challenge to the central government notification, we are not entertaining the Special Leave Petition," the Court said. .The Supreme Court was dealing with a plea by the Trinamool Congress government challenging an April 2023 order of the Calcutta High Court order that had directed an NIA probe into violence that broke out during Ram Navami processions in several areas of the State in March.A CJI-led bench had earlier, in May, observed that the NIA can investigate when there are scheduled offences involved.However, Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the West Bengal government, contended that there was no scheduled offence here and that explosives used in the cases did not fall under the Explosives Act.Singhvi contended that West Bengal Police officers were being called for questioning by the NIA..The High Court had passed the order in public interest litigation (PIL) petitions filed by the BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari and Priyanka Tibrewal leading to the appeal before the apex court.Adhikari, the State's Leader of the Opposition, had moved the High Court alleging that several bombs were used in the violence, leaving many injured, including police personnel.Tibrewal, who had contested against Chief Minister (CM) Mamata Banerjee during the assembly polls, sought action against the CM for allegedly instigating the violence by asking Hindus to "protect Muslims during their holy month of Ramzan."She further alleged that Banerjee had divided West Bengal into a Hindu-Muslim State, and sought orders to prevent her from making any public statements during festivals.During a detailed hearing that took place on April 10, the High Court had even opined that the violence that broke out in Howrah and Dalkhola districts was, prima facie, "pre-planned."