West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said she will take the legal route to stand up for people dying due to harassment caused by Special Intensive Revision (SIR) hearings.
“This is a fight for existence. We are seeking legal help. So many people have died due to SIR. We are moving court tomorrow against the inhumane treatment and the death of so many people due to the SIR,” she said.
"If necessary, I will go to the Supreme Court and plead for the people. I will speak for the people," she said, recalling that she was legally trained.
She was speaking during the foundation stone laying ceremony of the Rs 1,700 crore Gangasagar setu at Sagar Islands in Sunderbans, ahead of the Gangasagar mela which begins on January 10.
Mamata also referred to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyaneshwar Kumar as “Vanish Kumar” taking a dig at several names being left out and voters who are alive being marked as ‘dead’ in the draft SIR list published on December 16.
This statement comes two days after Mamata wrote a letter to CEC to halt the SIR process which she claimed could cause “mass disenfranchisement” and “irreparable damage” to the country’s democratic foundations.
“Even elderly, infirm, and seriously ill citizens are not being spared. Many electors are being compelled to travel distances of 20-25 kilometres to attend hearings, which have inexplicably been centralised rather than decentralised. This has caused severe hardship to ordinary citizens,” said Mamata in her letter to CEC on January 3.
The CM’s letter stated that arbitrary and unplanned exercise must be halted if corrective measures are not taken by the poll panel.
A 68-year-old man from Jaynagar in South 24 Parganas district who was on oxygen support, according to his family, died on Friday within 48 hours of attending the SIR hearing. The victim Najitul Mollah was in hospital on oxygen support and the family signed a bond and took him to the hearing centre with the oxygen tube inserted in his nose. His family alleges Mollah’s condition worsened after attending the hearing and he died. Mollah was worried about his name missing from the 2002 SIR list. Hearings in West Bengal are under way since December 27.
