Tuesday, March 17, 2020

A SHORT HISTORY OF SAINBARI CASE


D. BANDYOPADHYAY DISTORTS COURT ORDER AND PROCEEDINGS OF "SAINBARI CASE"

Shri Debabrata Bandyopadhyay is a trusted Advisor to the Trinamul Congress Supremo Mamata Banerjee. He is also a former Secretary of Revenue and erstwhile Secretary of Rural Development in the Government of India.

In a recent piece titled, "Citizens Beware! Killer Convicts at Large!" in the Mainstream magazine dated December 4-10, 2009 he has thrown mud on CPI (M) functionaries by building a monument of falsehood about "conviction", "release on parole" and "destruction of records".

In doing so and by using expressions such as "black mamba", "killer convicts", "nasty killer" to describe a serving and elected minister and other public functionaries, the author only further sullies his already discredited image.

What is striking is the absolute lack of editorial due diligence in publishing this malicious piece written by the former bureaucrat. Any editor worth her/his salt would have taken pains to check the veracity of the claims as well as been tempted to use editorial standards to vet some of the abominable language used. But alas, so consumed is the editor in buying the spurious monument of lies, there is none of that necessary editorial work.

Bandyopadhyay's entire article is a pack of lies, wrapped in a monument of malice intended to deliberately attack and demonize serving ministers and senior leaders of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist).

The context that provides the author to make such a willful character assassination and deliberate falsification of facts is the ‘Sainbari’ incident on 17th March 1970, where two brothers - sympathisers of the Congress party named Moloy Sain and Pronob Sain were killed.

These murders were made the pretext to falsely implicate the entire leadership of the CPI (M) in Burdwan district. It must be noted that this was done when West Bengal was under President's rule and the Congress party was going all out to target the CPI (M) and its cadres.

The argument of Bandyopadhyay's article is that:

1. 50/60 armed hooligans under the leadership of “Benoy Konar” attacked the residence of Sains in Burdwan with “foul mood” and murdered two Sain brothers named Moloy Sain and Pronob Sain.

2. 17 of the miscreants were responsible for the murder of the Sain brothers.

3. The author does not care to mention their names.

4. Eight of them, were "convicted" and life imprisonment was imposed upon them by the District and Sessions Judge of Burdwan in 1971.

5. Of the eight thus convicted- he names Benoy Konar (who is current Central Committee member of the CPI [M]), Politburo Member and West Bengal industries minister Nirupam Sen, Manik Roy (mentioned as "absconding"), Amal Haldar and Paltoo Bandyopadhyay.

6. The "convicts went on appeal before the Calcutta High Court twice.

7. On both occasions their appeal was rejected.

8. The convicts did not "curiously" prefer to appeal before the Supreme Court and instead "waited for an opportunity to get them out of the prison by foul means".

9. Later, when the CPI (M) came to power, "all the convicts of the Sain murder case were released on “unconditional and unlimited parole”.

10. The "records of the case" were "pilfered" from the "archives of the Calcutta High Court through their [the CPI (M)'s] committed members of the "Coordination Committee" among the employees of the High Court" and were destroyed.

11. The Registrar General, Calcutta High Court had "shockingly" reported to the Supreme Court that the High Court had no paper relating to the Sainbari case.

12. The "convicts" have been "enjoying unrestricted and unconditional parole for the last 32 years".


13. One Joydeep Mukherjee has filed a writ petition before the Supreme Court to find out how the "convicts" have been "enjoying unrestricted and unconditional parole for the last 32 years".

Thus framing his case for the article's headline that "killer convicts are at large", Bandyopadhyay then goes on to construct an elaborate pack of cards bringing the Singur and Nandigram "incidents" into the picture as he makes scurrilous after scandalous claim about the persons in question.

FACTS OF THE CASE AND ORDER

1. The 2nd United Front Government led by Ajoy Mukhopadhyay was dismissed by Governor Dharam Veera on 16-03-1970.

2. A 24-Hour Bangla Bandh was called by the CPI (M) and other Left Parties on the next day 17-03-1970.

3. In each and every locality in West Bengal the “Bandh” was being observed peacefully and the cadres of Leftist Parties took out processions and organized mass meetings against the dismissal of the State Government.

4. A similar peaceful procession was taken out in at Talmaruin area of Burdwan Town on that day by CPI (M) workers.

5. It was attacked by antisocial elements of Congress Party with bombs, lethal weapons and as a result one Gourhari Dey was injured seriously.

6. In the clash followed, 2 Sain brothers named Moloy Sain and Pronab Sain and one private tutor were killed.


7. At 12:30 PM on the same day, one Dilip Kumar Bhattacharya s/o Bomkesh Bhattacharjee of Ahiritola Lane, P.S. & Dist. Burdwan lodged an FIR with the Burdwan Police Station. The FIR was drafted by the District Congress President Nurul Islam in the Congress Party Office in consultation with Panchu Gopal Mukherjee, S.P. of Burdwan, Shankari Chatterjee, Officer-in-Charge, Burdwan Police Station and Rabindranath Ghosh, S.I. of Burdwan Police Station.

All the above three police officers had taken a pledge to wipe out CPI (M) from Burdwan District. Bijoyesh Ganguly was mentioned as witness.

8. The manufactured FIR mentioned clearly the following:

a. A peaceful ‘Bandh’ was being observed at the call of a political party but its armed cadres were giving provocative slogans.

b. At about 8-00 am an armed procession of about 1500/2000 people were proceeding through Pratapeswar-Shibtola in the town where the residence of Sain brothers was situated.

c. The processionists broke open the residence of the Sain Brothers, set it to fire and in the ensuing clash two Sain Brothers named Moloy Sain, Pronob Sain and family private tutor Jiten Roy were killed.

9. On the basis of the said FIR the Burdwan Police Station started P.S Case no 50 dt. 17.3.70 under sections 148/149/307/302/336/380 of I.P.C. against the following persons and took up investigation of the case.

(1) Ajit Kumar Mukherjee @ Tila (2) Kalyan Dutta Mondal (3) Pabitra Bhattacharjee (4) Madhu (5) Anwar Hossain (6) Akbar Hossain (7) Tapas Mukherjee (8) Vivek (9) Bulu (10) Amal Banerjee (11) Bablu Banerjee (12) Saikat Sain (13) Gandhi (14) Budo (15) Mahadeb Bhattacharjee (16) Swadhin Chatterjee (17) Mridul Sen (18) Salil Bhattacharjee (19) Subhas Chatterjee (20) Dilip Dubey (21) Ajoy Chatterjee (22) Bablu Dutta (23) Pradip Ghosh (24) Baidyanath Samanta (25) Sujit Ghosh (26) Subodh Chowdhury, (27) Amiya Dawn of Shaktigarh, Freedom Fighter Subodh Chowdhury and in the name of others totaling to 72 and 1500 unknown people.

In the original FIR there was no mention of the names of the then MLA Benoy Konar, Gokulananda Roy, Municipal Councillor Mojammel Hossain, Ramnarayan Goswami @ Kudo, Abdul Rashid, Swapan Banerjee and others.

10. Shri Tarun Dutta was the District Magistrate of Burdwan.

11. Later the officiating Chief Minister Shri Sidhartha Shankar Roy had been to Burdwan a number of times. He met the mother of Sain brothers Smt. Mrignayana Devi and made a wide-spread false and malicious propaganda that she was forced to eat boiled rice mixed with blood of her two slain sons on the fateful day. He had also introduced her to Smt. Indira Gandhi.

12. The notorious Governor Dharam Veera also visited Burdwan to give it wide publicity.

13. All the anti-Leftist Forces and a section of perverted media in the country had spread concocted stories of CPI (M) brutality and made it an all India issue.

14. After completion of the investigation the D.D.I., Asansol submitted a charge sheet against 111 persons including Benoy Konar and others on 8.2.71 under various sections of the Penal code including sections 326/302/440/836/114/149/336 of I.P.C. before the S.D.J.M Burdwan.

15. The Investigating Officer requested the Court to release 34 innocent persons who were arrested indiscriminately by him.

16. Out of these 111 accused persons, 56 persons were in jail as Under Trial Prisoners.

17. In this case " STATE V AJIT MUKHERJEE AND 83 OTHERS” also known as the “SAINBARI CASE” there was mention of 78 persons as public witnesses.

18. After submission of the Charge Sheet some more arrests were made.

19. During the running of the trial at Burdwan, the advocate Bhabadish Roy defending the accused, Freedom Fighter Shibshankar Chowdhury (Kalo Da), Purnananda Batabyal, Pancha Bagdi, Ram Mudi, Arun Devbhuti, Nitya Paul, Anwar, Brinta (Bagha), Arun Dutta, Shanti Bhanja and many other CPI (M) leaders & cadres were killed by criminals of Congress Party in Burdwan Town. A total reign of terror was created by the Congress hoodlums and butchers in connivance with Superintendent of Police Panchu Gopal Mukherjee and other police officials in the town.

20. Most of the CPI (M) leaders and cadres living in Burdwan town had fled and took shelter elsewhere.

21. The accused persons, therefore, made a prayer before the Sessions Judge, Burdwan for the transfer of the case outside the Burdwan town on safety and security reasons.

22. The Learned Sessions judge rejected the prayer of the accused persons.

23. Thereafter the accused persons moved the Hon'ble High Court, Calcutta. On 21.2.71 the Hon'ble High Court transferred the case to Alipore and the S.D.J.M Alipore committed the case to the court of Sessions on 13.6.74.

24. Some of the accused persons died in the meantime and some were absconding. So, the Third Court of Additional Sessions Judge Gitesh Ranjan Bhattacharjee framed Charges against 83 accused persons on 13.8.77 including Benoy Konar, Dilip Dubey, Ramnarayan Goswami, Ashok Bhusan Chakraborty, Mridul Sen, Sukanta Konar, Nirupam Sen, Rajat Banerjee, Amiya Saha, Swapan Banerjee under sections 148/149/302/149/436 of IPC and read out their names. All the accused persons pleaded innocence.

25. The names of Amal Haldar and Manik Roy were mentioned neither in the original FIR nor in the charge sheet framed by The Third Court of Additional Sessions Judge on 13-08-1977.

26. In the meantime, the Left Front Government came to power on 21st June, 1977. Immediately after installation, it declared the following policies on the basis of “Forgive and Forget”:

a. No revenge will be taken against those criminals and murderers of the Congress Party who had butchered more than 1200 CPI (M) leaders and cadres in West Bengal between 1971 and1977 and created a reign of terror during this period.

b. All political prisoners irrespective of affiliation would be released unconditionally.

27. On 20.9.77 the Learned Public Prosecutor, therefore, filed an application u/s 321 Cr.P.C seeking the court's consent for withdrawal from the prosecution of the accused persons.

28. On 30-09-1977 Shri Gitesh Ranjan Bhattacharjee heard the case and ordered to withdraw cases against only 4 accused persons.

29. All the other accused persons appealed to the Calcutta High Court. Maintaining the order of 30-09-1977 the Calcutta High Courted directed the State Government to submit afresh a petition before the Third Court of Additional Sessions Judge for withdrawal of the case. Shri Asit Ganguly defended the accused persons.

30. On 29-11-1977 the Public Prosecutor filed an application afresh u/s 321 Cr.P.C before the Third Court of Additional Sessions Judge for withdrawal from the prosecution of the accused persons with the consent of the court on following grounds.

a. There was an occurrence on the relevant date and relevant time in the house of the Sains, but the accused persons did not participate in that occurrence. That most of the accused belonged to one political party and most of the witnesses belonged to a rival political party, and that the accused persons had been falsely implicated in the case. That the investigation had not been fair and impartial and that the rival political party directed the course of the investigation and the evidence collected by the investigation agency was grossly tainted.

b. As two major political parties were involved in the case, if instant prosecution was carried to its logical end, it is almost certain that feelings or acrimony and hatred would be engineered between the local workers of the said two political parties, and that the current (then) situation in Burdwan town is quite peaceful and the trial is bound to disturb the peaceful atmosphere that is prevailing in the town.

c. The then State government (of the Left Front) had effected a policy of "Forgive and Forget" which was directed at putting an end to all political and ideological bitterness of the past.

d. The entire trial is based on the FIR lodged by one Dilip Bhattacharjee. But he himself has declared in writing that he did not know who had committed the murder. He was not a witness to the incident. He had neither written the statement of the FIR nor did he himself submit the same to the concerned police station. The FIR was drafted by the District Congress President Nurul Islam. He had put his signature on the same without going through it. Mr. Islam himself had also submitted it to the police station. The written declaration of Shri Bhattacharjee was enclosed marked Annex-A.

Witness No. 43 Itika Dutta of Suratmahal Lane of Town Hall Para of Burdwan had submitted in writing that during the incident on 17-03-1977 she was out of Burdwan. The Investigating Officer had manufactured a false statement under section 161 Cr.Pc. without meeting her.

The brother of two slain Sain brothers Bijoy Sain submitted in writing that along with two others he was confined to a room during the incident and so did not know what actually had happened.

Bijoy Sain, his sister Swarnalata Josh and brother-in-law Amalkanta Josh had in writing pleaded for withdrawal of the case in view of the prevailing peaceful atmosphere in the town.

e. The Investigating Officer had recorded the statement of Swapan Mukherjee on 08-04-1970, Nurul Islam on 08-04-1970 and Bijoyesh Ganguly on 23-04-1970 as witnesses to the incident but surprisingly their names were not mentioned in the original FIR. Even they had not put their signature on the FIR as witnesses.

The Public Prosecutor submitted that on the basis of such weak documentary evidences and witnesses, it was not possible for him to continue the case against so many people. So, he wanted to withdraw the case.

In the meantime, Hon’ble Judge Gitesh Ranjan Bhattacharjee got transferred to the Calcutta High Court as its judge. So, the Additional Sessions Judge R.K. Kar examined the grounds of withdrawal by looking at similar judicial precedents and on the basis of principles laid down by the Supreme Court in considering such grounds observed that:

a. There was a case of recantation of testimony by the person who filed the FIR.

b. He was unsure of the numbers mentioned in the charge sheet and that following the incident.

c. Leaders of the rival political party had colluded with the investigating officer in getting statements recorded from various witnesses.

d. There were several discrepancies with the statements given by the witnesses.

e. The manner the FIR was filed and in the way the investigation was done.

f. These facts and circumstances supported the Public Prosecutor's submission.

g. The investigation had not been impartial.

h. He would not be able to lead cogent and convincing evidence to warrant a conviction of the accused was not without basis.

i. The general political atmosphere in Burdwan Town at that time, featuring political murders and attacks on rival political parties, the general inaction of the police during the incident - either to halt the miscreants' attack on the Sain house as a retaliation to an alleged bomb attack on them or to apprehend them after the incident.

j. Other precedents on incidents arising out of rivalry between different associations and dismissal of charges owing to the need to continue to maintain harmony post such incidents.

k. In the light of prevalence of relative calm and peace eight years since the Sainbari incident, the judge mentioned that the Public Prosecutor's submission of withdrawal on such grounds deserved consideration.

l. However on the third ground of the Left Front government's policy of "forgive and forget", the judge clearly mentioned that "the policy of Government is no consideration for giving consent for withdrawal" citing other precedents.

m. In sum, the judge considered the other grounds enough to not find sufficient reason to withhold consent for withdrawal. Thus, the 83 accused persons were acquitted of the offences under Cr. PC section 321(b) passing the following order on 06-05-1978.

CHARGES HAVING BEEN FRAMED AGAINST ACCUSED PERSONS OF THE INSTANT SESSION TRIAL CASE THEY ARE, THEREFORE, ACQUITTED OF THE OFFENCES UNDER SECTION 321 (b) CR.PC.”

If anyone goes minutely through the proceedings of the court, he will come across the following facts.

The "convicts" went on appeal against their "sentence" to the High Court and that eventually they were released on "parole" are thus completely false and flows from the rather flowing imagination of the said author.

It also appears very clearly that the numbers 8 and 17 are discretely chosen to make a scurrilous point.

Amal Haldar's name for example is not part of the 83 accused in the "State vs Ajit Mukherjee..." case.

· How could someone who has not been convicted appeal for "parole"?

· And from where did Bandyopadhyay make his claim that eight persons were convicted and sentenced to "life imprisonment"?

· And why would anyone who has not been "convicted" appeal to the Supreme Court to overturn a judgment of "conviction" if that never happened?

· These are questions that deserve legitimate answers from the obviously deranged former bureaucrat.

· That Bandyopadhyay's later assertions on the CPI (M) using its "power" to grant "parole" to the "convicted" and that the records of the case archive were destroyed are nonsense is proved from the "State vs Ajit Mukherjee..." case records.

· Curiously, Bandyopadhyay also makes other assertions that the Registrar General, Calcutta High Court had "shockingly" reported to the Supreme Court that the High Court had no paper relating to the Sainbari case, when no appeal to the non-existing conviction was ever filed in the High Court!

· The author continues in his nonsensical vein claiming that the "CPI (M) government had granted unconditional and unlimited parole" and hopes that the "Supreme Court gave an order revoking the parole of the convicts".

· It is mentioned in the article that one Joydeep Mukherjee has filed a writ petition before the Supreme Court to find out how the "convicts" have been "enjoying unrestricted and unconditional parole for the last 32 years".

· As established before, these are all false premises and one wonders how the Supreme Court could admit the petition which is certainly a false affidavit - a sure case of contempt of Court.

In fact, the order in the "State vs Ajit Mukherjee and 83 others case" - passed by the Third Court of Additional Sessions Judge, Alipore dated 30 September 1977 and another dated 6 May 1978 - eventually acquitted the 83 accused persons from the charges framed against them.

So, the entire contention of the article written by D. Bandyopadhyay is concocted, manufactured and distorted. It is nothing but a fairy tale and nonsense. It is completely false and flows from the rather flowing imagination of the said author.

The deranged writer D. Bandyopadhyay is a trusted advisor of the leader of the chief party in the opposition in the state is a testament to the state of affairs that exists in the anti-Left Front alliance in West Bengal.

Considering the track record of the leader in question - in the sheer mindlessness, in the nonsensical obstructionism, in the poverty of logic and reason in the Trinamul's politics, it is not a surprise that she keeps such abominable company to advise her. He and other perverts are the “Think Tank” of Mamata Banerjee. It can be easily realized how they are going to destroy the future of West Bengal.

D. Bandyopadhyay is the most appropriate successor of “Goebles and Hitler”. If both of them were alive, they would have hung their heads in shame watching their successor surpassing their limits of distortion of facts and perversions. The use of most derogatory words such as “convict on parole”, “public menace”, "killer convicts” “black mamba” “Khokan Sen”, “District level operator” "nasty killer" etc. by this uncultured former bureaucrat speaks of his unsound mind and manner of his bringing up.

It is, therefore, expected that the Supreme Court of India takes drastic steps against the perverted Maoist intellectual D. Bandyopadhyay for distortion of court proceedings and against Joydeep Mukherjee for filing a false affidavit before the Apex Court.


Monday, April 9, 2018

Panchayat Elections in West Bengal: Slaughter of Democracy by Mamata Regime


Kolkata: THE ruling TMC in West Bengal has resorted to full-fledged assault on democracy and the rule of law as panchayat elections have started to become a farce. From the declaration of schedule to murderous attacks on opposition candidates in the nomination process, this year’s panchayat elections have brought out the authoritarian character of the TMC most crudely.

The chief minister has herself declared repeatedly that she wanted ‘opposition-free panchayats’. Her party leaders, including MPs called upon party activists to ensure that no opposition member gets elected. The monstrous process has thus started.

Though the three tier panchayat is a constitutional arrangement, every democratic norm is being violated in West Bengal. To begin with, panchayat elections were declared suddenly. In the all party meeting, held just two days before the announcement, the state election commissioner refused to discuss probable dates and confessed that he was ‘totally dependent’ on the state administration. On March 31, the State Election Commission declared the schedule. The three phase elections will be held on May 1st, 3rd and 5th. The nomination process has started from April 2. It will continue up to April 9. The process started with notification, virtually providing no time to opposition parties to prepare. The total number of seats in panchayat is 58,692. Only seven days are available for filing of nomination in such huge number of seats. Though three-phase elections have been declared, surprisingly the last date for filing of nomination is the same for all phases. The schedule also clashes with ongoing higher secondary examinations in the state. This will hinder the campaign as microphones would not be used during this period.

The schedule has also brought out nefarious designs of the ruling party. While 12 districts will go to polls on the first day, only two - Birbhum and Murshidabad - will be in the second. These two districts have been selected to intensify terror.

As soon as the process of collecting and filing of nomination papers started on April 2, TMC armed gangs began to cordon Block Development Offices (BDO), Sub Divisional Offices (SDO), and even District Magistrate’s offices in some districts. The plan is simple: the ruling party will not allow the opposition to collect and submit nomination papers. This is a new method which was applied partially in 2013 in Birbhum and some other districts. This year it has become the dominant feature in the state in the first stage of terror. The right to contest an election, a constitutional right, has become endangered, in what may be termed as, ‘pre-election rigging’.

In Birbhum, TMC miscreants gathered in numbers in Siuri, Rampurhat, Labhpur, Nanur, Ilambazar, Bolpur, Nalhati 2, Murarai, Dubrajpur and Mohammad Bazar. They cordoned the offices and chased away CPI(M), Left Front and other opposition activists who came to either collect or submit nominations. In Rampurhat, CPI(M) member of Budhigram panchayat, Panai Sheikh was brutally attacked. Sheikh is a disabled person from birth. Despite that, he was mercilessly beaten and was later admitted to hospital. CPI(M) panchayat member Rana Let was mercilessly beaten in Rampurhat. CPI(M) candidate Mitali Das was manhandled, her voter card and other documents snatched, her husband beaten in Nalhati. TMC district president and an infamous muscleman Anubrata Mondal has boasted in front of media,  “Whenever opposition supporters try to submit nomination, they will see development stands in front of them”. It was clear that he meant TMC armed gangs as ‘development’. On the second and third day, TMC cadre openly exhibited swords, knives in front of block offices. In Mauyreswar-1, they virtually blocked the entrance and CPI(M) candidate Sajjad Mirza was attacked. In Rampurhat, CPI(ML) candidate and secretary of Rampurhat Bar Association Prodyot Mukherjee was severely beaten. In Siuri, BJP leader Kalosona Mondal was stabbed in the vicinity of the DM office. Presence of media persons is banned in Birbhum block offices by the fatwa of the TMC.

On April 2, CPI(M) candidates from villages in Borjora in Bankura district came to file their nomination at the block office. TMC gangs attacked them injuring more than 30 persons including women. CPI(M) district committee member Sujoy Chowdhury, Borjora panchayat samiti member Sharif Mondal, and others were injured. Attacks continued in different parts of Bankura. In Bankura town itself, no Left Front candidate was allowed to enter the BDO office. In Hirbandh, CPI(M) activists were brutally beaten when they entered the BDO office. Many of them were injured. However, local people retaliated and chased away the TMC miscreants. In Ranibandh, TMC miscreants attacked CPI(M) activists. Later in a clash, a BJP candidate, Ajit Murmu was killed.

In East Midnapore, CPI(M) candidates were attacked in Khejuri, Panskura and Sutahata. In Sutahata, CPI(M) MLA Tapashi Mondal was attacked as she led Left Front candidates to the block office. Nur Alam, Sabhapati of Sutahata panchayat samiti was severely beaten.

In Burdwan East, block offices in Galsi, Ketugram-2, Katwa, Aushgram-2, Raina-1, Khandaghosh have been surrounded. CPI(M) leaders and candidates were attacked.

In South 24 Parganas, TMC has organised an attack in Budge Budge-1, Budge Budge-2, Falta, Magrahat-2, Diamond Harbour-2 and prevented CPI(M) candidates from collecting nomination forms.

In North 24 Parganas, TMC activists attacked CPI(M) office in Murarishah, Hasnabad and attacked Party activists. TMC gangs cordoned a market area to attack CPI(M) activists, creating largescale panic among people. CPI(M) district committee member  Shakti Mukherjee was injured among others. In Minakha, TMC activists took position within BDO office and severely beat up CPI(M) candidates.

In Coochbehar, Left Front candidates were prevented from submission of nomination forms. They were attacked and journalists were mercilessly beaten up by TMC activists.

In Raiganj in North Dinajpur, TMC gangs started firing and charged bombs to disperse opposition candidates on April 4. They terrorised the entire town and searched for CPI(M) and opposition activists. TMC armed gangs blocked nomination process in Kaliyaganj, Itahar.

In Murshidabad district, block offices in Raghunathganj, Kandi, Baroan, Salar, Raninahar, Jalangi, Nabagram, Murshidanad-Jiaganj have been captured by TMC miscreants. CPI(M) offices in Raninagar and Sherpur were vandalised.

In Hooghly, TMC armed gangs have taken control of block offices in Haripal, Jangipara and Goghat.

In almost all areas, the police have become an accomplice of the the TMC. In some districts, police have actively participated in chasing away opposition activists.

However, in such an atmosphere of State-sponsored terror, Left Front activists are trying their level best to submit nominations, braving attacks and intimidations.

NON-EXISTENT STATE ELECTION COMMISSION

The State Election Commission has abjectly surrendered and has remained totally insensitive to atrocities committed. Left Front delegation has met the state election commissioner regularly but he expressed his inability to address any of the grievances. Left Front delegation has demanded security during the nomination process, which is practically absent in districts. Apart from direct attacks, the system of providing provisional caste certificates has been cancelled. The very short time span available for nomination has made this process more difficult. State Election Commission has also failed to explain the rationale behind this schedule. While only seven days are available for submission of nominations, same number of days are allotted for withdrawal. It has been apprehended that the TMC would pressurise and force opposition candidates to withdraw.

The first phase of voting will take place on the May Day. Central trade unions, Left parties and many other organisations have forcefully objected to this denigration of International Working Peoples’ Day and demanded a change in the schedule. Trade unions have organized a rally in front of the State Election Commission’s office.

To recollect, in Mamata Banerjee’s reign, one state election commissioner had to move to courts seeking protection of her duties under tremendous threat from the state government and another was forced to resign during the election process, threatened by state ministers.

CPI(M) state secretary Surjyakanta Misra, in a press meet, said that earlier we have seen booth capturing by the TMC in every elections in West Bengal in their regime. But now BDO, SDO, even DM offices are being captured. Opposition parties are not being allowed even to submit nomination. Police is a mere spectator or partner in the crime. Opposition candidates are being attacked in the premises of administrative offices. State Election Commission has become immobile from the very beginning and the entire election machinery is run from Nabanna, the state secretariat. Whether there will be campaign and voting has become uncertain as the primary process of nomination is being resisted. Left Front will organise mass deputation to State Election Office to protest this large scale attack on democracy.

Misra, however, called upon Left activists and supporters to resist the terror and move collectively to submit nomination.

Left Front chairman Biman Basu said that the panchayat elections are destined to be farce in such an atmosphere. TMC is trying to build a ‘new kind of democracy’ without the existence of opposition.

A Left Front delegation submitted deputation to the governor. They urged him to intervene to protect constitutional rights of the people of the state.







Attacks on Panchayat Elections in West Bengal (Upto April 5, 2018)

The ruling TMC in West Bengal has resorted to full-fledged assault on democracy and rule of law as Panchayat elections have started to become a farce. From the declaration of schedule to murderous attacks on opposition candidates in the nomination process, this year’s Panchayat elections have brought out the authoritarian character of TMC most crudely.
The Chief Minister herself declared repeatedly that she wanted ‘opposition-free Panchayats’. Her party leaders, including MP-s called upon party activists to ensure that no opposition member gets elected. The monstrous process has started.
Though the three tier Panchayat is a constitutional arrangement, every democratic norm is being violated in West Bengal. To begin with, Panchayat Elections were declared suddenly. In the All Party meeting, held just two days before the announcement, the State Election Commissioner refused to discuss probable dates and confessed that he was ‘totally dependent’ on the state administration. On 31st March, State Election Commission declared the schedule. The three phase elections will be held on 1st, 3rd, 5th May. Nomination process has started from 2nd April. It will continue up to 9th April. The nomination process started with notification, virtually providing no time to opposition parties to prepare. The total number of seats in panchayat is 58,692. Only seven days are available for filing of nomination in such huge number of seats.
Though three-phase elections have been declared, surprisingly the last date of nomination filing is same for all phases. The schedule also clashed with ongoing Higher Secondary examinations in the state. This will hinder campaign as microphones would not be used during this period.  
The schedule also brought out nefarious design of the ruling party. While 12 districts will go to polls on the first day, only two- Birbhum and Murshidabad- will be in the second. These two districts have been selected to intensify terror.
As soon as the process of collecting and filing of nomination papers started on 2nd April, TMC armed gangs began to cordon Block Development Offices (BDO), Sub Divisional Offices (SDO), and even District Magistrate’s offices in some districts. The plan is simple: the ruling party will not allow opposition to collect and submit nomination papers. This is a new method, applied partially in 2013 in Birbhum and some other districts. This year it has become the dominant feature throughout the state in first stage of terror. The Right to contest in an election, a constitutional right, has become endangered in what may be termed as ‘pre-election rigging’.
In Birbhum, TMC miscreants gathered in numbers in Siuri, Rampurhat, Labhpur, Nanur, Ilambazar, Bolpur, Nalhati 2, Murarai , Dubrajpur, Mohhamedbazar. They cordoned the offices and chased away CPI(M), Left Front and other opposition activists who came to either collect or submit nominations. In Rampurhat , CPI(M) member of Budhigram Panchayat Panai Sheikh was brutally attacked. Sheikh is a disabled in his left hand from birth. Despite that he was mercilessly beaten and was later admitted in hospital. CPI(M) panchayat member Rana Let was mercilessly beaten in Rampurhat. CPI(M) candidate Mitali Das was manhandled, her voter card and other documents snatched, her husband beaten in Nalhati. TMC district President and infamous muscleman Anubrata Mondal has boasted in front of media,  “Whenever opposition supporters will try to submit nomination they will see development stands in front of them”. It was clear that he meant TMC armed gangs as ‘development’. On second and third day, TMC cadres openly exhibited swords, knives in front of block offices. In Mayureswar-1 they virtually blocked the entrance and CPI(M) candidate Sajjad Mirza was attacked.
In Rampurhat CPI(ML) candidate and secretary of Rampurhat Bar Association Prodyot Mukherjee was severely beaten. In Siuri, BJP leader Kalosona Mondal was stabbed in the vicinity of DM office. Presences of media persons are banned in Birbhum block offices by the fatwa of TMC.
On 5th April, hundreds of people gathered in Nalhati in Birbhum, determined to overcome attacks and file nominations. CPI(M) central committee member Ramchandra Dome, state committee member Goutam Ghosh were among those who led the march towards block office. TMC armed gangs threw bombs and fired to disperse the rally. Ramchandra Dome , Goutam Ghosh were seriously injured. CPI(M) activist Hiru Late was critically injured. Despite that, Left Front candidates entered block office and submitted nominations.
On 2nd April, CPI(M) candidates from villages in Borjora in Bankura district came to file their nomination in Block office. TMC gangs attacked them injuring more than 30 persons including women. CPI(M) district committee member Sujoy Chowdhury, Borjora Panchayet Samiti member Sharif Mondal, and others were injured. Attacks continued in different parts of Bankura. In Bankura town itself, no Left Front candidates were allowed to enter in BDO office. In Hirbandh, CPI(M) activists were brutally beaten when they entered in BDO office. Many of them were injured. However, local people retaliated and chased away TMC miscreants. In Ranibandh, TMC miscreants attacked CPI(M) activists. Later in a clash, a BJP candidate, Ajit Murmu was killed. On 4th April,. TMC activists and police jointly attacked CPI(M) candidates in Sonamukhi. Party MLA Ajit Roy was injured. TMC gangs blocked roads in Indpur, Gangajalghati.
In East Midnapore, Left Front candidates were attacked in Khejuri, Panskura, Sutahata. In Sutahata, CPI(M) MLA Tapashi Mondal was attacked as she led Left Front candidates to block office. Nur Alam, Sabhapati of Sutahata Panchayat Samiti was severely beaten.
In Burdwan East , block offices in Galsi, Ketugram2, Katwa, Aushgram2, Raina1, Khandaghosh have been surrounded. CPI(M) leaders and candidates were attacked.
In Burdwan West , TMc gangs have cordoned block offices in Jamuria, Andal, Salanpur. In Jamuria, submission of nomination was not allowed. CPI(M) candidates faced attack in Salanpur, Pandeveswar.
In South 24 Parganas, TMC organized attack in Budge Budge-1, Budge Budge-2, Falta, Magrahat-2, Diamond Harbour-2 and prevented Left Front candidates from collecting nomination forms.
In North 24 Parganas, TMC activists attacked CPI(M) office in Murarishah, Hasnabad and attacked Party activists. TMC gangs cordoned a market area to attack CPI(M) activists, creating large scale panick among people. CPI(M) DCM Shakti Mukherjee was injured among others. In Minakha TMC activists took position within BDO office and severely beat up CPI(M) candidates.TMC has cordoned off Sandeshkhali-1 block office.
In Coochbehar, Left Front candidates were prevented from submission of nomination forms. They were attacked and journalists were mercilessly beaten up by TMC activists.
In Raiganj in North Dinajpur, TMC gangs started firing and charged bombs to disperse opposition candidates on 4thApril. They terrorized entire town and searched for Left Front and opposition activists. TMC armed gangs blocked nomination process in Kaliyaganj, Itahar.
In Murshidabad district, block offices in Raghunathganj, Kandi, Baroan, salar, Raninahar, Jalangi, Nabagram, Murshidanad-Jiaganj have been captured by TMC miscreants. CPI(M) offices in Raninagar and Sherpur was vandalized.
In Hooghly, TMC armed gangs have taken control of block offices in Haripal, Jangipara, Goghat, Balagarh, Purshura, Dhaniakhali.
In Nadia, CPI(M) candidates were chased away from Hanskhali, Chapra, Ranaghat-2, Santipur.  
In West Medinipur, two women candidates of CPI(M) have been kidnapped in Ghatal. Women candidate and her proposer was attacked in Kharagpur. Opposition candidates were chased away from Mohanpur, Pingla, Medinipur Sadar blocks too. TMC bike-borne gangs are freely moving and creating terror.
In Howrah, Left candidates were severely beaten up and all documents snatched in Jagat Ballavpur. Many were injured and admitted to hospital. 
CPI(ML) Liberation candidates were attacked in Bankura, Dhanikhali in Hooghly. In some areas, SUCI(C) candidates were also obstructed and attacked.
In almost all areas, the police have acted as accomplices to the TMC. In some districts, police have actively participated in chasing away opposition activists.
However, in such an atmosphere of state-sponsored terror Left Front activists are trying their level best to submit nominations, braving attacks and intimidations.
As on 5th April, Nomination Report is following:
Zilla Parishad: Total Seats: 825/ TMC 61/ Left Front 91/ BJP 87/ Congress 40
Panchayat Samiti: Total Seats: 9217/ TMC 2063/ Left Front 753/ BJP 1511/Congress 158
Gram Panchayat: Total Seats 48650/ TMC 13319/ Left Front 4539/ BJP 9454/ Congress 1221
Non-existent State Election Commission
The State Election Commission has abjectly surrendered and has remained totally insensitive to atrocities committed. Left Front delegation has met State Election Commissioner regularly but he expressed his inability to address any of the grievances. Left Front delegation has demanded security for nomination process, which is practically absent in districts. Apart from direct attack, system of providing provisional caste certificate has been cancelled. The very short time span available for nomination has made this process more difficult. State Election Commission has also failed to explain the rationale behind schedule. While only seven days are available for submission of nomination, same number of days have allowed for withdrawal. It has been apprehended that TMC would pressurize and force opposition candidates to withdraw.
The first phase of voting will take place on May Day. Central trade unions, Left parties and many other organizations have forcefully objected to this denigration of International Working Peoples’ Day and demanded a change in schedule. Trade Unions organized a rally in front of State Election Commission office.
To recollect, In Mamata Banerjee’s reign, one State Election Commissioner had to move to courts seeking protection of her duties under tremendous threat from the state government and another was forced to resign during election process threatened by state ministers. On 5th April, as many as seven state ministers went to State Election Commission office to further pressurize them. On 6th April 17 parties including Left Front will sit in a dharna in front of SEC office.
Communist Party of India (Marxist)
Communist Party of India
Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)-Liberation
All India Forward Bloc
Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist)