The bench asks both central and state forensic laboratories to send their representatives to the site of the massacre to collect samples as early as possible
Tapas Ghosh, Calcutta: Calcutta High Court on Wednesday said the state-appointed SIT should be given adequate time and declined to accept prayers for NIA or CBI probes into the massacre of eight persons at Bogtui village in Birbhum’s Rampurhat.
“The state-appointed SIT should be provided adequate time to complete its investigation. This court is hopeful that the investigation conducted by the SIT will be impartial and independent,” Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava, the senior judge of the division bench hearing the case, said after the counsels of the BJP, CPM and the Congress pleaded for a CBI or NIA probe.
The court ordered the SIT to file a progress report of its probe before the bench by 2pm on Thursday, when the case comes up for hearing again.
It issued certain guidelines that included an order to the state government to fix CCTV cameras around the site of massacre, and preserve its footage and every document related to the case carefully.
The bench also asked both central and state forensic laboratories to send their representatives to the site of the massacre to collect samples as early as possible.
The bench said the district judge of East Burdwan would monitor the implementation of the guidelines.
It also asked the director general of police to ensure security to the witnesses. “Names and identifications of the witnesses should not be disclosed,” the Chief Justice said.
The bench also prevented the disposal of bodies till the court’s further orders, and ordered they be photographed from all sides.
On Wednesday, the Chief Justice called the state advocate general to court 1 and said his bench would suo motu hear a case on the tragic incident at Bogtui at 2pm.
By then, seven public interest petitions — including those on behalf of the CPM, the BJP and the Congress — had been filed.
When the court began hearing the case at 2pm, the CPM’s lawyer told the bench some representatives of the party had visited the site of the massacre on Wednesday and documents collected by them had been incorporated in their petition. They stressed the need to protect witnesses.
The lawyer representing the Congress said that the court should not make any delay in ordering CBI or NIA probe into the rarest of rare incident in which “10 persons have been killed”.
Lawyers of the BJP demanded a probe by the NIA or the CBI, alleging the state government would not allow an impartial probe.
State advocate general S.N. Mukherji told the court that according to a police report “eight persons had died in the heinous crime”. He argued until and unless the SIT completed its probe it would not be proper to let any other agency conduct investigations into the incident. The AG claimed the accused would be identified and punished.
After hearing all the sides, the Chief Justice said: ‘It is a fact that the incident is a heinous crime. But considering the far-reaching ramification of the event, the court should provide adequate time to the state appointed SIT.”
