'Post-poll violence plea out of political vendetta after TMC elected democratically'

New Delhi: Strongly opposing the plea before the Supreme Court on alleged displacement of persons due to post-poll violence in the State, the West Bengal government has said that the petition is politically motivated and purely filed to mislead the Court on actual circumstances with regard to law and order situation in West Bengal.

In an affidavit filed before the top court, the Mamata Banaerjee led All India Trinamool Congress said that it is untenable to categorise each and every act of violence which happened in the State after the 2021 Assembly elections as post poll violence.

It is outrageous to make baseless allegations like "democracy has been murdered", fascism and humanitarian crisis have arrived" in the State after the ruling party was democratically elected under the supervision of Election Commission of India, it was submitted.

"All such baseless allegations roots out of political vendetta and for this very reason, the petition must be dismissed with exemplary costs," it added.

The petition filed before the top court had sought relief for those people who have been "internally displaced" due to post-poll violence in the State.

A vacation bench of Justices Vineet Saran and BR Gavai had issued notice to the State on May 25 and also impleaded National Human Rights Commission and National Commission for Women as parties to the case.

The plea filed through Advocate-on-Record Shruti Agarwal, claimed that post-poll violence in West Bengal after the 2021 assembly elections led to an exodus of people and internal displacement of such people in the State.

The petition claimed that owing to the indifference of the State government, more than 18 political activists lost their lives, sexual violence was committed against women with opposing political views, and loot, arson and destruction of both private and property took place in broad daylight.

It was alleged that the police and "state-sponsored goons" are in cahoots, owing to which the former are not investigating cases and there is a failure to provide protection to those who are facing threats to their lives.

In its reply, the West Bengal government pointed out that the High Court at Calcutta has taken cognizance of the incidents surrounding the post-poll violence and in particular the grievances of supposedly internally displaced persons and that issues pending before the High Court "significantly overlap" with the issues raised before the top court.

"The petitioners ought not to approach this Court without exhausting alternative efficacious remedy available under Article 226 of the Constitution before the High Court at Calcutta," the State's affidavit said.

It further claimed that a stream of fake news and morphed videos concerning the scenario of post-poll violence in the State of West Bengal had erupted on various social media platforms after the 2021 election results.

"Most of such fake news/videos were intended to instigate communal disharmony and polarization. Given the same, appropriate action(s) were taken by the law enforcement agencies to curb the spread of such fake news for limiting the influence of misinformation on the public at large," the affidavit said.