Political vendetta: Mamata hits out at NHRC for 'leaking' report over post-poll violence in Bengal

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday lashed out at the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) after its committee, probing alleged incidents of post-poll violence in the state, accused the state government of showing "appalling apathy" towards the victims of the post-poll violence.

Banerjee accused the committee of leaking its probe report to media and called the move a "political vendetta."

"The NHRC should have respected the court. Instead of leaking the findings to the media, it should have first submitted the same to the court," she said.

She further said she is well aware of those who submitted the report. "If you ask me to give details about those people, I will say that the court will state their identity," Banerjee said.

She also hit out at the BJP for giving "biased statements" in connection with the subjudice matter.

The Chief Minister also maintained that her government will file a response when the court asks them to. She accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of 'maligning' the state, "using impartial agencies to settle political scores." "What would you call it other than political vendetta of the BJP? It is yet to digest defeat (in the Assembly polls) and that is why the party is resorting to such tricks," Banerjee said.

The NHRC panel has recommended a CBI inquiry into "grievous offences like murder and rape," in its report to the Calcutta High Court, adding that the cases should be tried outside of the state.

The NHRC committee constituted by its chairperson had submitted a report before the High Court on cases of alleged human rights violations in post-poll violence on June 13.

The TMC leader also hit out at the situation of law and order in Uttar Pradesh. "Modi knows very well that there is no rule of law in UP. How many human rights commission has he sent there?…So many incidents, from Hathras to Unnao, have taken place," she said. She maintained that the central agency is maligning Bengal and said that the violence took place before the polls were held when the law and order was under the Election Commission. The leaked NHRC report mentioned some of the senior leaders as "notorious criminals" and also recommended cases to be probed by the CBI. 

Commenting on the same, MP Kalyan Banerjee said: "The report is full of lies and there is not an iota of truth in it. The NHRC did not visit the houses of Trinamool Congress supporters who had been beaten up by BJP activists during the election. Not a single untoward incident happened after Mamata Banerjee took oath for the third consecutive time as the Chief Minister on May 5. The incidents took place at a time when the law and order was under the Election Commission."

State Forest minister Jyotipriya Mallick said: "I challenge such allegations. There is not even a single general diary against my name in any police station. All these are nothing but BJP's vendetta politics. If needed, a defamation suit will also be filed."

Udayan Guha, Jiban Saha, Sheikh Sufiyan, Jyotipriya Mallick, Partha Bhowmick and Shaukat Mollah have been named as "notorious criminals" in the report.

Meanwhile, the NHRC on Thursday rejected as "baseless and factually incorrect" allegations that a report prepared by its committee probing the incidents of post-poll violence in Bengal has been leaked by the rights panel.

It said in a statement that the panel had submitted its report to the Calcutta High Court on July 13.

Since the report is already available with all the concerned parties as per the directives of the court, "there is no question of leakage at the level of the NHRC," the rights panel said.