Tripura HC chief justice, Left unions at odds over arrests

A tussle has erupted between the Tripura High Court chief justice and four trade unions of the ruling Left parties over the arrest of cadres allegedly involved in the attack on a sub-divisional judicial magistrate court during the nationwide September 2 strike.

The chief justice had asked the chief minister to take strict action against the attackers.

Four major Left trade unions, including CITU, AITUC, TUCC and UTUC, have deplored the arrest of four pro-bandh picketers and cadres by police in Sabroom in southern Tripura on Friday and Saturday.

In a joint statement issued on Monday, the four trade unions said that the country-wide strike on September 2 convened by the national trade unions achieved total success in Tripura.

"The totality of the strike clearly proved the common peoples disapproval of the anti-people and pro-corporate policies being pursued by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government," the statement said.

The statement said that the trade unions had noted with concern that in Belonia and Sabroom sub-divisions, cases against a number of persons had been instituted on the ground that "undesirable incidents" had taken place in the courts there.

The strongly-worded statement condemned the arrest of four people and their confinement in jails as well as efforts to implicate more people in the reported incidents in the court complex.

Earlier, on September 3, Tripura High Court Chief Justice Deepak Gupta asked the chief minister to take strict action against those involved in the attack on the SDJM courts in Sabroom and Belonia.

"Justice Gupta in a letter to Chief Minister Manik Sarkar requested action against the attackers," state Law Minister Tapan Chakraborty told reporters.

"The chief minister asked Chief Secretary Y.P. Singh to take legal action against the law breakers," said Chakraborty.

Justice Gupta along with senior district, judicial and police officials visited Sabroom SDJM court on Saturday.

Talking to media in Sabroom, Justice Gupta strongly condemned the incident and said that "this court attack was on judiciary".

A senior police official said Deputy Inspector General of Police (southern range) Uttam Majumder and south Tripura district police chief Bhanupada Chakraborty also visited Sabroom, 135 km south of here, to probe the incident.

According to local media, a group of picketers belonging to the ruling Left parties' trade unions attacked the Sabroom and Belonia SDJM courts on September 2 and tried to assault the magistrates to enforce the nationwide bandh in support of their demands.

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