On Thursday 27th April 2023, The Calcutta High Court ordered a probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into the violence clashes out in Howrah, Hooghly and Dalkhola districts and other parts of West Bengal during Ram Navami celebration in March 2023.
This year during the Ram Navami celebrations, violence were broken out in six states including Bihar, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat. To trigger the communal tensions during the Ram Navami processions, incidents of stone pelting and arson were found.
A large group of police was deployed, after violence marred Ram Navami celebrations in the districts of West Bengal and other states.
Not satisfied with the police investigation, a PIL has been filed by BJP MLA Subhendu Adhikari seeking an NIA probe into the violence on Ram Navami in West Bengal.
The high court has also ordered all police stations to hand over all records, FIRs, CCTV footages and other related documents to the NIA within two weeks. The NIA will start his Investigation after the NOC from the Central government.
Some of the people reactions on the order of Kolkata high court on Ram Navami Violence:
At social media, People tweeted and looking forward to court for NIA probe in other states also like Bihar, Maharashtra, Jharkhand.
Several other incidents of violence were also reported across the country during the Ram Navami processions. Violence erupted in Karnataka’s Hassan after two groups clashed when a procession was passing by a mosque. In Vadodara, stones were thrown at mosques when the procession reached near by the mosque.
“This is not a communal riot. We dispersed the crowd and the procession also went ahead on its route. All such processions in the city were already given police protection”, said Deputy Commissioner of Police Yashpal Jaganiya.
