Murshidabad violence: SC refuses to hear PIL for SIT probe

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to hear a plea seeking a probe by a retired judge-led special investigation team (SIT) into last month's in West Bengal following protests over the newly-amended Waqf Act.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N. Kotiswar Singh, however, granted liberty to petitioner Satish Kumar Aggarwal to approach the for relief and said he could file his petition online.

Justice Kant told advocate Barun Kumar Sinha, appearing for the petitioner, that unless two or more states were involved, the apex court was not keen to examine the plea filed under Article 32 of the Constitution.

The bench questioned the petitioner for not moving the high court and directly coming to the apex court. "This practice of filing the petitions directly in the Supreme Court cannot be allowed. It is like demeaning the high courts. Unless two or more states are involved, we will not entertain the petitions under Article 32," the judge said.

Sinha claimed a threat to the petitioner's life if he approached the high court in light of the violence in the state.

He submitted that lawyers filing cases in other incidents of violence in the state were booked under false cases by the police, which was allegedly colluding with the .

The bench said if the petitioner feared for his life then he could file a petition virtually in the high court and directed the registrar-general of the high court to facilitate the process.

Aggarwal in his plea claimed to be aggrieved by the "biased approach" of the police and administration, the local authorities who were accused of "shielding the real culprits of the ghastly incidents".

"To enforce rule of law in the state of West Bengal and to create confidence among the members of Hindu community towards rule of law, the identification of perpetrators is the need of the hour," the PIL said.

The plea said violence erupted in the aftermath of the passage of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 and alleged a complete breakdown of law and order in West Bengal, citing multiple incidents of assault, arson, and communal targeting, particularly against members of the Hindu community.

The petitioner urged the bench to constitute a SIT headed by a retired judge of the apex court or to direct a CBI probe to investigate the violence which occurred between 8 and 12 April in Murshidabad district of West Bengal.