Murshidabad: One killed as bomb hurled outside polling booth

April 21, 2016

Berhampore, Apr 21: A 35-year-old CPI(M) supporter was today killed and his body was found lying outside a polling booth at Shibapara area under Domkal Assembly seat in Murshidabad district where polling for the third phase is underway.

CPI(M) candidate and former minister Anisur Rahman said that the man identified as Tahidur Islam was killed when bombs were hurled outside the polling booth.

Murshidabad Superintendent of police C Sudhakar, however, said the murder was not
related to polls.

Tahidur was stabbed somewhere else and his body was dumped near the booth, the SP said. Rahman also alleged jamming of booths by Trinamool Congress supporters.

Congress candidate of Hariharpara Assembly seat in the same district Mir Alam Gir alleged that two party supporters were beaten up allegedly by Trinamool Congress workers at Hosseinpur.

Trinamool Congress, however, denied the charges. Polling is being held in 22 Assembly constituencies of the district out of the total 62 seats, where polling is underway.

In Burdwan district where third phase Assembly election is on in 16 seats, four persons were injured in separate incidents in polling booths under Ketugram Assembly constituency.

The ear of a CPI(M) worker identified as Seltu Sheikh was slashed and leg of another CPI(M) man was fractured after an altercation led to a scuffle in front of booth no 78.

Both the injured were rushed to Ketugram Block Primary Health Centre. District returuing officer Soumitra Mohan said four persons have been arrested in this connection.

In another incident, two CPI(M) workers were injured at booth no 48 under Ketugram Assembly seat when bombs were allegedly hurled.

The injured were taken to Ketugram Block Primary Health Centre. While CPI(M) alleged that Trinamool Congress supporters were involved in the incident, the latter denied the charge.

In a separate incident, Central Forces obstructed Trinamool Congress candidate in Purbasthali Uttar seat of the district, Tapan Chattopadhyay, from entering booth no 20 due to a "communication gap".

He was later allowed to enter after he showed valid papers. Two EVM machines were replaced after it started malfunctioning at a polling booth under ward no 3 of Katwa Assembly seat.

Polling was delayed by 45 minutes as a result of this, district election official said.

Comments

Add new comment

Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.

‘Pay the worker before his sweat dries’: Madras High Court cites Prophet Muhammad’s teaching while ordering settlement of dues

News Network

December 21,2025

Invoking the teachings of Prophet Muhammad—“pay the worker before his sweat dries”—the Madras High Court has directed a municipal corporation to settle long-pending legal dues owed to a former counsel. The court observed that this principle reflects basic fairness and applies equally to labour and service-related disputes.

Justice G. R. Swaminathan made the observation while hearing a petition filed by advocate P. Thirumalai, who claimed that the Madurai City Municipal Corporation failed to pay him legal fees amounting to ₹13.05 lakh. Earlier, the High Court had asked the corporation to consider his representation. However, a later order rejected a major portion of his claim, prompting the present petition.

The court allowed Thirumalai to approach the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) and submit a list of cases in which he had appeared. It also directed the corporation to settle the verified fee bills within two months, without interest. The court noted that the petitioner had waited nearly 18 years before challenging the non-payment and that the corporation could not be fully blamed, as the fee bills were not submitted properly.

‘A Matter of Embarrassment’

Justice Swaminathan described it as a “matter of embarrassment” that the State has nearly a dozen Additional Advocate Generals. He observed that appointing too many law officers often leads to unnecessary allocation of work and frequent adjournments, as government counsel claim that senior officers are engaged elsewhere.

He expressed hope that such practices would end at least in the Madurai Bench of the High Court and added that Additional Advocate Generals should “turn a new leaf” from 2026 onwards.

‘Scandalously High Amounts’

While stating that the court cannot examine the exact fees paid to senior counsel or law officers, Justice Swaminathan stressed that good governance requires public funds to be used prudently. He expressed concern over the “scandalously high amounts” paid by government and quasi-government bodies to a few favoured law officers.

In contrast, the court noted that Thirumalai’s total claim was “a pittance” considering the large number of cases he had handled.

Background

Thirumalai served as the standing counsel for the Madurai City Municipal Corporation for more than 14 years, from 1992 to 2006. During this period, he represented the corporation in about 818 cases before the Madurai District Courts.

As the former counsel was unable to hire a clerk to obtain certified copies of judgments in all 818 cases, the court directed the District Legal Services Authority to collect the certified copies within two months. The court further ordered the corporation to bear the cost incurred by the DLSA and deduct that amount from the final settlement payable to the petitioner.

Comments