BackDarjeeling: Court stays pullout of central forces
Calcutta HC says that there were compelling reasons for the deployment of central forces in Darjeeling and that similarly strong reasons should have been cited to withdraw them
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Kolkata: A two-judge vacation bench of the Calcutta high court on Tuesday stayed the centre’s decision to partially withdraw paramilitary forces from Darjeeling until 27 October, rejecting the argument that they were required to be deployed elsewhere for elections.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had opposed the centre’s unilateral decision to withdraw 10 of the 15 companies of central paramilitary forces deployed in the hills in the wake of unrest. After she spoke to Union home minister Rajnath Singh, the centre decided to pull seven companies.
But Banerjee said the situation in Darjeeling wasn’t normal yet and that forces shouldn’t be withdrawn at all.
On Monday, Mamata alleged that it was a political conspiracy to destabilize Darjeeling at a time when things were looking up. The state moved the vacation bench of the high court on Tuesday.
The court said on Tuesday that there were compelling reasons for the deployment of central paramilitary forces in Darjeeling and that similarly strong reasons should have been cited to withdraw them.
The state government had called in central forces when the unrest in Darjeeling was at its peak in June and the police were unable to contain the violence.
The court asked the state and the centre to file affidavits next week, explaining their stands. The matter will be heard again on 27 October.
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) state president for West Bengal Dilip Ghosh said the chief minister had made an official statement saying that order has been restored in Darjeeling. The decision to pull central forces from Darjeeling was based on that statement, he said.
Earlier on Monday, Ghosh had said that Banerjee was herself responsible for creating the unrest in Darjeeling and that she must use her own forces to deal with the crisis. She should not turn to the centre to clear the mess in Darjeeling, Ghosh had said on Monday.
Meanwhile, the state on Tuesday brought charges of murder against several Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leaders including its fugitive president Bimal Gurung for the killing of police officer Amitabha Malik on 13 October during a raid on an alleged hideout.
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