HC extends CAPF presence in Murshidabad’s troubled zones
Times of India | 16 May 2025
123 Kolkata: Calcutta High Court on Thursday directed the Central Armed Police Force to remain in Murshidabad, where violent protests against the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 claimed three lives in April.A division bench of justices Soumen Sen and Raja Basu Chowdhury extended the presence of paramilitary forces deployed in trouble-torn zones of the district and directed adequate deployment of police force till the situation became normal and peaceful.The bench also underlined the need for setting up a permanent police camp in the affected area of Jangipur.Senior state counsel Kalyan Bandyopadhyay said the state would abide by the bench's observations. The counsel, while submitting the SIT report, said as many as 348 people had been arrested for the violence.The division bench took note of the state's submission that 82 families had been rehabilitated so far, and that one of the three victim families had accepted the Rs 10 lakh state compensation.When petitioner Suvendu Adhikari's counsel contested the state's statement, the bench directed the state to file an affidavit and circulate it to the petitioners before the next hearing on July 31.The bench directed the state to take more effective steps considering the poor plight of those who had to leave their home and hearth after the violence. It also sought a fresh investigation report from SIT.The division bench, however, sent the case records of the father-son victims, namely Haragobinda Das and Chandan Das, killed on April 12, to the Chief Justice for appropriate assignment. Justice Tirthankar Ghosh earlier released the case on the ground that there was a bench hearing the Murshidabad matter. The division bench held that the matter had to be heard by a writ court.