PIL in Calcutta HC demands CBI probe into Mamata’s ‘jihad’ comment

Kolkata: A public interest litigation (PIL) was filed in the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday demanding a CBI probe into the recent comment of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, wherein she claimed that Trinamool Congress will declare a “jihad” against the BJP at the party’s Martyr’s Day programme on Thursday.

This was the second PIL filed filed in the Calcutta High Court in this connection.

In the PIL filed with the division bench of Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj, the petitioner, Nabendu Kumar Bandopadhyay, argued that CBI should launch a probe into the matter after filing an FIR.

The petitioner also argued that in case the Chief Minister’s comment results into any unfortunate incident at the Martyr’s Day programme on Thursday, there should be a separate probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the matter.

He also appealed that if possible, central armed forces should be deployed at different corners of the state on Thursday as an additional safety measure.

This was the second PIL filed with the same division bench in this connection. On July 11, a person named Nazia Ilahi had filed a petition arguing that such comments from the Chief Minister were totally unwarranted and she should make such comments against the principal opposition party in the state.

In her petition, Ilahi pointed out that the Chief Minister did not even withdraw her statement later. The division bench had then directed that a copy of the petition be forwarded to Banerjee and the matter would be heard after a couple of weeks.

The Chief Minister’s ‘jihad’ comment had created ripples in the political circles of the state with the opposition BJP accusing Banerjee of trying to instigate terror in the state through her remark.