KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed that any person who has suffered on account of post- poll violence in West Bengal can file complaint to the National Human Rights Commission, WBHRC, NCW and NCSCST.
Hearing PILs over post-post violence in the state, a five- judge bench directed that the commissions in turn will forward those complaints to the director general of police (DGP) immediately.
"We direct that if any person has suffered on account of post-poll violence, he shall be at liberty to file complaint along with the supporting documents to the National Human Rights Commission, West Bengal Human Rights Commission, National Commission for Women and National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes," the bench ordered.
It directed that complaint can be filed either by way of hard copy or online.
The matters will be heard again on May 25, the court directed.
The five-judge bench comprises Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and justices I P Mukerji, Harish Tandon, Soumen Sen and Subrata Talukdar.
The state government sought time to comply with the court's earlier order to furnish information on the number of complaints received by the DGP from the commissions.
On the last date of hearing, the bench had also requested the Advocate General representing the state to apprise the court about any designated e-mail id to enable the aggrieved persons to lodge their complaints online.
Petitioners had alleged that they were not permitted to lodge complaints in the police station and in some cases they were unable to do so as they had to run away from their places of residence owing to the post-poll violence.
The state government sought more time to furnish such information.
The court directed that the information be furnished on the next date of hearing.
One of the PILs, filed by lawyer petitioner Anindya Sundar Das, raised the issue of violence taking place in various parts of the state after the assembly elections.
The petitioner claimed that life and liberty of the people was in danger due to alleged inaction by the police.
The state government had on May 10 submitted before the five-judge bench that there has been no post-poll political violence in the state since May 9 and assured that all possible steps will be taken to ensure peace in future.