Keywords: Ram Navami Violence, West Bengal, HC Order, NIA, Plea Reject
On Monday, the Supreme Court dismissed the petition filed by the State of West Bengal challenging the Calcutta High Court’s decision to transfer the investigation of six FIRs related to Ram Navami violence between March 31 and April 3 to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The bench, comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra, noted that the Central Government, following the High Court’s ruling, exercised its suo motu authority under Section 6(5) of the NIA Act to assign the investigation to the NIA. Additionally, the bench pointed out that the State Government did not challenge the subsequent notification issued by the Centre.
The bench also emphasized that Section 6(1) of the NIA Act imposes a duty on police officers to inform the State Government about any scheduled offence, and the State Government is then obligated to forward this information to the Central Government. However, the bench clarified that the Central Government’s power to refer the investigation to the NIA is not restricted by the report provided by the State Government.
Regarding the sufficiency or credibility of the allegations, the bench noted that, at the current stage, the Supreme Court is not required to make such determinations. It stated, “The precise contours of investigation which should be carried by NIA cannot be anticipated at this stage. In this backdrop, and particularly in absence of challenge to notification, we are not inclined to entertain the SLP. We clarify that the observations made by HC be confined to the question of whether NIA had jurisdiction to probe.”
Lisa Gupta, NUSRL, Ranchi, Semester 3, an intern under Legal Vidhiya
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