Two Public Interest Litigations (PIL) seeking the deployment of Central forces at violence-hit Beldanga in the Murshidabad district of West Bengal were filed in the Calcutta High Court Monday.
The BJP filed one of the PILs, while a local resident of Beldanga filed the other. According to the petitioners, during the violence in Murshidabad in 2025, the Calcutta High Court intervened and deployed Central forces. The PILs request a similar order for Beldanga. Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Partha Sarathi Sen approved the filing of the PILs, which are likely to be heard Tuesday.
The unrest in Beldanga began Friday morning, after the body of Alauddin Sheikh, 30, a resident of Sujapur Kumarpur gram panchayat in Murshidabad, was brought to his native village from Jharkhand. Protesters claimed that Sheikh was killed in a gruesome manner in the neighbouring state.
Demanding immediate arrest and exemplary punishment of the culprits, protesters blocked National Highway 12 and the railway tracks for nearly 5.5 hours. Traffic kiosks were vandalised, police vehicles were damaged, and at least 12 people were injured in stone pelting. Unrest was reported from Beldanga for the second day on Saturday after hundreds of people blocked the Barua crossing, alleging that another migrant worker from the district was assaulted in Bihar.
The police said they have arrested 30 people for attempting to incite violence and filed a suo motu case regarding the alleged assault on journalists.
In April 2025, a Calcutta High Court bench ordered the immediate deployment of Central forces in Murshidabad district after incidents of widespread violence, vandalism and arson in the areas in the wake of the Waqf (Amendment) Act 2025. The order came after the Calcutta High Court heard the petition filed by Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, alleging unrest in several parts of the state.
The special bench of Justices Soumen Sen and Raja Basu Choudhury heard the case and ordered the deployment of Central forces. The court had also stated that this direction should not be limited to the Murshidabad district alone. Wherever similar situations arise in other districts, Central forces might be deployed immediately to control the situation and restore normalcy, it said.
The bench further directed that the Central forces are to operate in coordination with the state administration. At least three people were killed in the clashes in Murshidabad last year, and over 138 individuals have been arrested in connection with the violence.