Prophet row violence: Calcutta HC seeks report on losses in Bengal

Kolkata, June 27 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Calcutta High Court on Monday sought detailed report on the total loss incurred in West Bengal due to the violence over the controversial comments by now suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma about Prophet Muhammad.

A division bench of Chief Justice, Prakash Srivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bhardwaj, directed all the District Magistrates to review the extent of loss due to violence and submit a report to the court within the next six weeks. Accordingly, the victims can demand compensation for the loss, the bench observed.

The next hearing in this matter will be on July 28.

The division bench also sought the CCTV footage of the violence on this count at areas under Beldanga Municipality area in minority-dominated Murshidabad district. It directed that CCTV footages have to be submitted to the Registrar General of the court with details on how and when these CCTV footages were collected.

State Advocate General S.N. Mukhopadhyay sought some time from the court to submit the CCTV footage on this count.

Kolkata Police has issued summons to Nupur Sharma to appear for questioning in the city. However, she has avoided both the summons and sought some time to appear citing security threats. Kolkata Police has also summoned dismissed BJP leader, Naveen Jindal who shared Sharma's comments on Twitter.

Soon after Sharma's controversial comments went viral, there was severe tension in several minority-dominated pockets in West Bengal in certain districts like Kolkata and adjacent Howrah, as well as Murshidabad, and Nadia.

Clashes erupted between the agitators and police in which Domjur police station in Howrah district was attacked, police vehicles were torched and several police personnel were injured. Internet services were suspended in several areas.

Source: IANS