West Bengal Post-Poll Violence: Victim’s Family Seeks Supreme Court To Cancel Accused’s Bail

The family of a victim of West Bengal’s 2021 post-poll violence has appealed to the Supreme Court, challenging a Calcutta High Court order that granted bail to two accused individuals, Rahul Dey and Saurav, on August 5, 2024.

The petition, filed through advocate Shoumendu Mukherji by the deceased brother and mother, alleges that the family was the first to be targeted in the orchestrated violence perpetrated by a mob backed by the then-ruling political establishment.

The petition recounts the brutal murder of the family’s brother, who was dragged out of his house, strangled with a CCTV camera wire, and beaten to death with bricks and sticks in front of his mother.

The petition said that one man was killed in 2021. The petition alleged that the man was dragged outside his house, a CCTV camera wire tied around his neck, strangled and beaten with bricks and sticks. They smashed his head and brutally killed him in front of his mother, the petition alleged.

Both accused absconded for many months after the incidents and were apprehended on February 14, 2022, nearly a year from the incident date after a tip-off.

The petition said the findings of the High Court were erroneous. “Throughout the trial, the present Petitioners have been threatened, intimidated, assaulted, and physically molested by the relatives of the respondents while the Respondents themselves were in custody,” the petition said.

“On account of the impugned (HC) order, the threat to the Petitioners’ lives has risen manifold. There is a likelihood that the attacks will continue with impunity. It is a settled position of law that when there is a high possibility of threat to the victims, it is a just ground for cancellation of bail. Moreover, the essential facts were not even brought to the High Court’s knowledge by the Respondent No. 1 agency despite the same being in its knowledge,” the petition said.

The matter was listed before a bench led by Justice Sanjeev Khanna, which listed it for hearing on September 20 along with other petitions relating to post-poll violence.

(With ANI Inputs)

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