New Delhi: “As we said, we are accused of encroaching on parliamentary and administrative functions,” Supreme Court Justice Br Gavai said on Monday.
Justice Gawai’s comments were published, when the Supreme Court judge, composed of Justice Augustine George Masih, was considering a new request to investigate the recent violence in West Bengal during the anti-WAQF law protests.
Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain submitted the PIL in 2021 on behalf of two petitioners seeking presidential domination after violence occurred after the congress polls, urging the bench to make a new plea on Tuesday.
Jain said the 2021 plea is listed and new applications will be heard in West Bengal, thus bringing more violence.
He said: “In tomorrow’s list item, item 42 involves the implementation of presidential domination in West Bengal. The petition was filed by me. In this petition, I have submitted IA (application) instructions and lawsuits, resulting in certain violence in West Bengal.”
Jain said paramilitary forces need to be deployed and immediate action is taken.
He mentioned Article 355 of the Constitution, which deals with the duties of trade unions to protect states from external aggression and internal harassment, and said the Supreme Court could call for reports on what is happening in the state.
Jain said the Supreme Court had issued a notice earlier on the 2021 petition.
“When things come up, I will prove how violence happens,” he said.
In July 2021, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the PIL, which also sought instructions from the Centre to deploy armed/paramilitary forces in the state. It then issued a notice to the Centre, West Bengal and the General Election Committee.
Recently, two petitions were filed in the Supreme Court to monitor violence in West Bengal for the newly enacted WAQF (Amendment) bill.
On April 14, violence related to WAQF laws shocked the Bhangar area of South 24 Parganas District of West Bengal, despite police claims that the previous Riot Epicenter of Murshidabad was in a legal and order situation in the previous centre of Murshidabad.
At least three people were killed in public violence in parts of the Merhidabad region and hundreds were left homeless during protests against the WAQF (Amendment) bill from April 11 to 12.
Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and BJP MP Nishikant Dubey made derogatory remarks to the judiciary last week. Dhankhar questioned the timeline for the judiciary to make decisions for the president and act as a “super parliament”, saying the Supreme Court cannot launch “nuclear missiles” at democratic forces.
Not long after, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey said that if the Supreme Court had to enact the law, it should close the parliament and parliament. He also accused Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna of “religious war” in India.
