Kolkata: Nearly 50 people arrested for the Aug 14 midnight vandalism at RG Kar Hospital have been slapped with a penal section for which they will have to pay for the hospital damages. The Kolkata Police has initiated the process of recovering the damages. The process for publishing an advertisement in this regard is also under process.
The charges have been filed under Section 9 of West Bengal Maintenance of Public Order (amended) Act, 2023 and Section 4 of The West Bengal Medicare Service Persons and Medicare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage of Property) Act, 2009 (along with other acts),said a senior officer.An assistant commissioner of police has been assigned the task to oversee the compensation collection process.
Amended in Feb last year, West Bengal Maintenance of Public Order allows the state to confiscate property of vandals to compensate people and the govt. Following the amendment, two assistant commissioners of police – on whom powers have been delegated by the state govt — had issued public notices, asking people who suffered losses in two instances of rioting, to depose before it with proof to be eligible for compensation in May last year for the first time. These cases were related to BJP’s Nabanna Abhijan in Sept in 2022 and the Tiljala violence over rape-murder of a minor in early 2023.
Bengal had amended the 51-year-old Act to include normal people to be compensated for damages due to public rioting and vandalism.
“Once the ACPs get the applications and proof, they will probe to establish genuineness and carry out valuation of the property lost. The ACPs will submit a report to the state, which will check if a charge sheet has been filed against the accused. Since it is a civil court dispute, it has no connection with the criminal trials. The state will then ask the accused to compensate. If they fail to compensate, the state will move court and will confiscate property. Once the court upholds the property attachment, it will finally legally be confiscated,” explained a top Lalbazar official.