SUSMITA SAHA DUTTA Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Vide order dated May 31, 2021 passed by this Court, taking note of the contentions raised by Ms. Priyanka Tibrewal, who was the candidate in the Assembly Elections from Entally Constituency, that number of persons in her Constituency had been made to run away from their houses to save their lives and are not being allowed to come back, we had given liberty to send complaints to the official e-mail ID of the West Bengal State Legal Services Authority. Reinstatement was to be done in the presence of a Committee of the officers nominated by National Human Rights Commission and the West Bengal State Human Rights Commission and the Member Secretary of the West Bengal State Legal Services Authority. As per the report dated June 3, 2021 from the Member Secretary of the West Bengal State Legal Services Authority, number of persons were reinstated back to their houses. Some of them either did not want to come back as they are away on account of their employment. Some of the persons claimed that they do not want any indulgence as they had changed their political affiliation. Another fact which had been noticed in the report submitted by the Member Secretary of the West Bengal State Legal Services Authority is that the officer from the National Human Rights Commission had joined the proceedings through video conference. In our view that was not the idea. It was not a normal meeting. Rather the officers were to see the ground realities and report to this Court. No representative from the West Bengal State Human Rights Commission had joined, though having office at Kolkata.

(2.) Ms. Priyanka Tibrewal further submitted that after the matter was taken up on the last date of hearing, she visited about 12-13 districts in this State herself. There are lot of issues which have not been addressed by the State despite raised in various petitions pending in this Court. People are facing difficulties. Even the persons, who have been reinstated back, are being threatened again, whereas some had still not being able to come back. The effect of this inaction on the part of the State is also that these people are not able to earn their livelihood and get benefits in terms of various employment schemes framed by the Central Government or the State Government. The complaints filed by them to the police are not being acted upon. Wherever the complaints already filed by them have been forwarded by the National Human Rights Commission to the concerned police stations, they are being threatened with cross cases.

(3.) Similar contention is sought to be raised by Mr. Dhiraj Kumar Trivedi in WPA(P) 145 of 2021. He further added that some of the complainants are even pressurised to write that they never filed any such complaints. As regard, the effect of the livelihood of the affected persons, he sought to raise an issue that the street-vendors licences of a particular group of persons in Kolkata are not being renewed. Even statements of the victims under Section 164 of Cr.P.C. is not being got recorded.