The Supreme Court bench led by CJI Sanjiv Khanna, Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice KV Viswanathan will hear over 70 petitions filed against the Waqf Amendment Act on April 16.
The West Bengal Police on Tuesday arrested two brothers for their alleged involvement in the brutal murder of a father-son duo during communal violence in Murshidabad district. Taking cognisance of the violence in West Bengal's Murshidabad during protests over the Waqf (Amendment) Act, the NHRC on Tuesday said it will send a team to conduct an on-spot inquiry, given the "seriousness" of the matter.
The National Human Rights Commission said the action comes after submission of a complaint to it.
The Supreme Court bench led by CJI Sanjiv Khanna, Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice KV Viswanathan will hear over 70 petitions filed against the Waqf Amendment Act on April 16.
The National Human Rights Commission said it will send a team to conduct an on-spot inquiry, given the "seriousness" of the matter after submission of a complaint to it. The inquiry report should be submitted within three weeks, it said.
The complaint pertains to various "social media news articles" highlighting the alleged murder of two named persons -- father and son, amid the ongoing protest against the legislation. The complainant has alleged that "goons" had been on an "attacking spree, targeting men and women of the Hindu community and their properties, and had murdered three people", including the father-son duo, according to the proceedings of NHRC.
The complainant further alleged that "no proper action had been taken by the police of Murshidabad district, West Bengal, and this led to the mass exodus of Hindu people in the region", the proceedings said.
Furthermore, shops were "looted and vandalised by the goons, and they were seen shouting and attacking people escaping in their private vehicles". The complainant alleged that all these incidents occurred in the "presence of the Murshidabad police", the proceedings further read.
According to PTI, the victims of the violent clash on April 11 in Bedbuna village under riot-hit Jangipur area of Murshidabad district, claimed that all 120 houses of the village were torched, and their valuables like cash, jewellery and cattle were looted by the attackers. The district administration said efforts are on to rebuild their houses.
As the residents of over 100 thatched houses, including women and children, ran away from their dwellings, they saw smoke billowing out of the cluster of huts in the hamlet from a distance.
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A total of 221 people have been arrested so far in connection with the recent violence in the Muslim-majority district during anti-Waqf (Amendment) Act protests.
The two accused, identified as Kalu Nadar and Dildar Nadar, were residents of the same Jafrabad area where the father-son duo used to live, he said, adding that a special investigation team has been formed to probe into the murders. Kalu Nadar was arrested from Murarai in Birbhum district, while his brother Dildar was nabbed from near the India-Bangladesh border in Suti in Murshidabad district, the IPS officer said.
The bodies of the father-son duo, identified as Harogobindo Das and Chandan Das, were found in their house in Jafrabad locality in violence-hit Samserganj with multiple stab wounds.
Apart from these two deaths, 21-year-old Ijaz Momin, who sustained bullet wounds during clashes at Sajur More in Suti on Friday, succumbed to his injuries in the hospital the next day.
Police have also made 1,093 accounts on different social networking sites defunct as a part of their ongoing probe into the violence.
Around 18 police personnel were injured in the clashes that broke out in several areas of Murshidabad during protests against the Waqf (Amendment) Act.
Following the clashes, prohibitory orders were imposed and internet services were suspended, while police promised strictest action against those behind the riots.
For the first time in over five decades, Poila Baisakh – the first day of the Bengali New Year - passed without any celebration on Tuesday in Dhulian, a bustling trade town in West Bengal's Murshidabad district. Poila Baisakh usually marks a symbolic new beginning for Bengali business owners who perform puja, distribute sweets, and invite clients to clear dues and start new accounts.
Senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Tuesday called upon West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to immediately visit the communal violence-hit district and meet the affected families.
He also questioned why the TMC supremo, who had sent teams of MPs and MLAs to Hathras in Uttar Pradesh and Manipur, did not send anyone to affected areas in Murshidabad, including Samserganj and Jangipur.
Amid simmering political tensions in West Bengal over massive anti-Waqf outrages, initial probe into the violence reportedly has revealed the involvement of Bangladeshi miscreants in the unrest, the Union Home Ministry was informed, several media platforms reported citing sources.