New Delhi, Feb 27 (PTI) The Congress on Sunday demanded an independent probe by a high court judge into incidents of violence in Tripura and said the chief minister should resign as he has failed to put a check on them.

The opposition party alleged that all such incidents of violence are being organised under the patronage of Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the northeastern state.

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Congress leader Alka Lamba told reporters here that violence is being perpetrated against the workers of her party in Tripura and the BJP government in the state is seeking to suppress the voice of people by imposing prohibitory orders under section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

"You cannot suppress the voices emerging against the ruling BJP in Tripura by imposing prohibitory orders. This is the failure of the state government and we demand that a sitting judge of the high court should probe all incidents of violence," she said.

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"All incidents of violence in Tripura are being perpetrated by the BJP workers against the Congress and if the chief minister is unable to stop such violent incidents, he has no right to occupy the position and should immediately resign," Lamba said.

She alleged that the BJP is unable to take control of the law-and-order situation in Tripura and is trying to suppress voices of dissent by force, adding that this will not be tolerated in a democracy.

Lamba cited several incidents of violence in the recent past where Congress workers and meetings were attacked by BJP "goons". She said even women workers of the opposition party were not spared.

The Congress leader said the people of Tripura are coming out in the open against the BJP and this will reflect in the 2023 state Assembly polls.

The Supreme Court had, on Friday, allowed a petitioner seeking an independent and impartial probe by a special investigation team (SIT) into alleged incidents of violence that took place in Tripura last year to move the state high court, which is seized of a similar matter.

A bench of justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant also directed the state police not to take any coercive action against petitioner Ehtesham Hashmi in case he chooses to appear before the Tripura High Court physically.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)