Agartala: The High Court of Tripura has served notice to the state government while hearing the petition of Left Front Convener Bijan Dhar seeking quashing of FIRs filed against him in various police stations accusing of instigating violence.
The Chief Justice Akil A Kureshi asked the government to file the reply within four weeks and directed them not to proceed further with the FIRs filed against Dhar till the next directions. The case is posted for the next hearing on July 23 next.
The court turned down the petition of former finance minister and senior CPI-M MLA Bhanu Lal Saha sought for quashing of FIRs, who has been facing as many as six cases for his provocative post on social media calling for resistance against the attacks on opposition supporters, have been perpetrated across the state since BJP-IPFT government came to power.
However, the court directed to amalgamate all FIRs filed against Saha and proceed with the investigation. The petition of former Loksabha MP and senior CPI-M leader Jitendra Chowdhury on a similar plea that has been posted for hearing on June 29 next.
The BJP supporters have registered FIRs in different police stations of the state against both the leaders and convener of Tripura left front committee Bijan Dhar accusing them of making inciting and provocative posts on Facebook following a series of attacks on CPI-M supporters.
Police accused them of under section 120 (B), 153 (A), 109, 123 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code and had served notice. Allegedly, Bhanu Lal Saha wrote calling people to keep sticks, iron pipes handy for self-defence against ruling party goons, which has drawn flak from the BJP.
Saha, taking to Facebook, had said, “Keep sticks, da (sickle), iron pipes etc handy, irrespective of your age and gender, for resisting bricks, kicks, petrol bombs hurled by them. Gather courage to face attackers. It’s not a crime to pick up things for self-defence. It’s impossible to protect life and property without resistance”.
Bijan Dhar made several posts subsequently calling people especially, the left front supporters to get ready for a counter-attack on the criminals if they continue their mischief when Governor himself is failed to stop the violence on the opposition and said,
“People have to go for self-defence along with the fight for restoring democracy and personal liberty.”
Later, Jitendra Choudhury also made a similar type of Facebook post and urged people to prevent the political goons from restoring democracy in Tripura. The BJP workers of the Badharghat area had resorted to attack on the houses of CPM supporters and ransacked a large number of shops and houses early this month.
