'Strictly maintain law and order': HC instructs newly-elected BJP government in West Bengal after Mamata Banerjee's appeal

NEW DELHI: The Calcutta high court on Thursday instructed the newly-elected BJP governmemt in West Bengal to "strictly maintain law and order at the ground level". The order came after Mamata Banerjee told the court that the police had remained inactive during the post-poll violence, while also asserting that “Bengal is not a bulldozer state” in the context of continuing demolition drives against illegal structures.

The court further instructed the police to guarantee the safety of those who had fled their homes fearing post-poll retaliatory violence, and to facilitate their secure return to their properties regardless of political affiliation.

The writ petition was filed by Sirsanya Bandyopadhyay, a TMC candidate in the recently concluded assembly elections and son of Kalyan Banerjee, alleging widespread violence against party workers and attacks on TMC offices following the declaration of the 2026 assembly poll results on May 4.

The interim order was passed by a bench comprising chief justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Partha Sarathi Sen, which also directed the state to file its affidavit-in-opposition within three weeks and granted an additional two weeks for a reply, while keeping open the question of the maintainability of the TMC’s PIL.

Assisting petitioner’s counsel Kalyan Banerjee while dressed in a lawyer’s robe, Banerjee told the court that at least 10 people had been killed, around 150-160 TMC offices vandalised and nearly 2,000 incidents of violence reported after the polls.

She alleged that FIRs were not being registered and claimed that women, children and minorities were being specifically targeted. “Out of ten dead, six are Hindus. They are not allowing FIRs to be lodged. In my family, 12-year-old girls are being threatened with rape,” Banerjee argued.

Arguing that criminals were taking the law into their own hands, she said even people accused of unauthorised construction were entitled to be heard before demolition. She questioned police inaction, asking, “People are entitled to be heard even if you are demolishing an unauthorised structure. Criminals are taking law into their own hands. Police should prevent crime. After an incident has happened, will they not investigate?”