Bengal Ram Navami Riots 'Pre-Planned, Orchestrated': Interim Report Of Fact-Finding Team

A six-member ‘fact-finding’ team of an NGO, led by retired Patna High Court Justice L Narasimha Reddy, was stopped by the police from visiting the violence-hit areas of Hooghly district.

The interim report of the Fact-Finding Committee headed by Patna HC Justice L Narsimha Reddy (Retd) on the 'violation of Human Rights during riots on the occasion of Ram Navami in West Bengal' said that the "riots were pre-planned, orchestrated and instigated." This statement comes after a six-member ‘fact-finding’ team of an NGO, led by retired Patna High Court Justice L Narasimha Reddy, was stopped by the police from visiting the violence-hit areas of Hooghly district on Saturday and Sunday.

"Riots were pre-planned, orchestrated and instigated," states the interim report of the Fact-Finding Committee headed by Justice L Narsimha Reddy (Retd) on the 'violation of Human Rights' during riots on the occasion of Ram Navami in West Bengal, as quoted by news agency ANI.

"There was a concerted effort to attack the Ram Navami procession. The rally started peacefully. At certain localities, police deployment was there. Once the rioters started throwing stones, the police coolly walked away. At residential localities, rioters entered forcefully entered places and broke the glass windows of the residents of the particular section who were busy celebrating Ram Navami," Retired Patna High Court Justice L Narasimha Reddy told ABP News.

"Later on, police came and lathi-charged people who were there," he added.

Fact-Finding Team Stopped From Going To Hooghly

The 'fact-finding' team was stopped near Konnagar when the team was on their way to Serampore and Rishra as prohibitory orders were still imposed in the area.

Retired Patna High Court Justice L Narasimha Reddy on Sunday told ANI: "They (police) are saying that CrPC section 144 has been imposed but nothing is here. They are scared because they will be exposed."

Earlier on Thursday, senior BJP leader Locket Chatterjee was stopped from visiting her Hooghly Lok Sabha constituency to attend Hanuman Jayanti celebrations due to prohibitory orders in the area. 

Chatterjee sat on demonstration, alleging that she was called an “outsider by the police”. 

She said, “The police stopped me though I am the local MP. I was invited to attend the Hanuman Jayanti programme there. But the police are asking me to go back. Why is an elected representative stopped from visiting her constituency?”. The BJP leader started reading Hanuman Chalisa.

The development comes in the wake of a series of incidents of communal violence reported in Bengal's Howrah and Hooghly districts on the occasion of Ram Navami on March 30-April 1.

Subsequently, central forces were deployed in three districts of Hooghly, Barrackpore, and Kolkata to assist the state police in maintaining law and order during Hanuman Jayanti celebrations.