Bloc supporters in front of the Dinhata subdivisional office on Tuesday. A file picture

Calcutta, Feb. 8: Three days after the firing, the CPM’s Left Front partners have together demanded a judicial probe.

The Forward Bloc, RSP and the CPI today wanted punishment for the officers responsible for the firing that killed five Bloc supporters and withdrawal of cases against Bloc cadres following Tuesday’s violence in Dinhata.

Bloc state secretary Ashok Ghosh had not asked for any probe into the firing earlier. “We are not seeking a probe as we know what happened there and what the outcome of such inquiries are,” he had said.

The decision of the “mini-front” apparently came under pressure from the Bloc’s Cooch Behar unit. However, Bloc leaders said they took time to check with the district leadership whether there was any “excess from our side”.

Although the mini-front meeting at the Bloc headquarters was aimed at mounting pressure on the CPM and government, its leaders indicated their compulsion to carry on with the CPM. “We urge Left Front chairman Biman Bose to call an immediate meeting of the front to resolve the bitterness among partners,’’ RSP state secretary Debabrata Bandopadhyay said.

The Bloc will organise silent processions on February 12 and resume its campaign for the panchayat polls, which it is contesting on its own. The RSP will show its “solidarity” with the Bloc by holding demonstrations the next day. The CPI did not announce any plans to protest against the firing.

The RSP and the CPI are with the CPM in the polls.

The CPM and the government appeared confident that the Bloc could not afford to let it snowball into a crisis.

Bose ruled out a front meeting on the issue. Ghosh said the chief minister didn’t speak to him after his return from Delhi.

CPM spokesman Shyamal Chakraborty said: “They didn’t demand the probe earlier. Now it’s for the government to decide.’’ He wondered if it was legally possible to withdraw the murder charge against Bloc leaders for the death of a National Volunteers Force guard in Dinhata.

Rights notice

The National Human Rights Commission has sent notice to the Bengal chief secretary and director-general of police on the Dinhata firing and given them four weeks to respond.

The notice is based on The Telegraph report describing the indiscriminate nature of the police firing. “The Telegraph report…highlighted that the protesters were shot above the waist,” it said.