The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a petition filed by the West Bengal government against the Calcutta High Court order, which directed the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to probe the cases related to Ram Navami violence in the state.
The Bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra took in view the notification issued by the Union of India after the High Court verdict.
In its notification, the Central government had exercised its suo motu powers under Section 6(5) of the NIA Act and directed the NIA to investigate the six FIRs filed in West Bengal over the incidents, which took place between March 31 to April 3, 2023.
It observed that Section 6(1) of the NIA Act cast an obligation on part of the police officer to inform the state government about any scheduled offence and later, the state government was obliged to forward such information to the Central government.
However, the power of the Union government to refer the investigation to NIA was not constrained by the report submitted by the state government, it added.
The Apex Court noted in its order that
it was not required to decide the sufficiency or veracity of the allegations at the present stage.
It said the precise contours of investigation by NIA could not be anticipated at this stage.
Noting that the State of West Bengal did not challenge the Centre’s notification, the Bench refused to entertain the SLP.
However, the top court of the country clarified that the observations made by the Calcutta High Court should be confined to the question of whether NIA had jurisdiction to probe.
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