The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to entertain a petition seeking an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation or a Special Investigation Team into the violence that broke out in West Bengal’s Murshidabad against the Waqf Act in April, Live Law reported.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh directed the petitioner, Satish Kumar Aggarwal, to approach the Calcutta High Court instead, Bar and Bench reported.

In response to claims that the petitioner and lawyers involved in previous cases of violence in West Bengal in the state were “terrorised”, the Supreme Court allowed the petitioner to file and present the case virtually before the High Court.

While disposing of the case, the bench criticised the trend of filing writ petitions directly before the Supreme Court, bypassing the jurisdiction of High Courts under Article 226 of the Constitution.

“This practice of filing direct writ petitions before Supreme Court, we will deal with very seriously,” Kant said.

Article 226 of the Constitution allows High Courts to issue writs to enforce fundamental rights and for any other legal purpose.

Violence broke out in Murshidabad on April 11 and 12 during protests against amendments to the Waqf Act passed by Parliament on April 4. Three persons were killed in the violence.

On April 11, 72-year-old Harogobind Das and his 40-year-old son Chandan Das were killed allegedly by a mob in the district Shamsherganj area. The third fatality was that of a man named Ijaz Momin, who was allegedly shot dead by the police in the Suti town in Murshidabad.

The rioting led hundreds of Hindus, who are a minority in Murshidabad district, to flee to neighbouring Malda.

A waqf is an endowment under Islamic law dedicated to a religious, educational or charitable cause. Each state has a waqf board led by a legal entity vested with the power to acquire, hold and transfer property.

The Waqf Amendment Act curbs the authority of waqf boards and allows greater government control over them. Critics allege that the amended law violates the right to equality and the freedom to manage religious affairs.

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