The Calcutta High Court, in its assessment on Friday (July 14), found good reason to direct the Centre to deploy four more companies of CRPF in the violence-hit areas of the Darjeeling hills within 48 hours.

The areas already have a deployment of 11 companies of the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF).

The court’s division bench of Acting Chief Justice Nishita Mhatre and Justice T Chakraborty also directed the state government to provide its own additional forces in the hills where an indefinite bandh has crippled life. The Gorkha Janamukti Morcha is demanding a separate state.

When the state wanted three Mahila CRPF companies replaced with men, the Centre said through an affidavit that the women members of the force could not be discriminated against.

When the state requested that three companies of SSB be replaced from Darjeeling, because they were familiar with the local people, the Centre said it was not a cogent reason to replace the SSB companies as they worked without bias.

The court made its decision after hearing the Advocate General for the state and the Additional Solicitor General for the Centre.

—India Legal Bureau