Dec. 3: Mamata Banerjee today ordered a judicial probe into the alleged police firing in Mograhat on Thursday that killed a 14-year-old girl and a woman during a crackdown on power theft.
“My government is very transparent. I want the truth to come out regarding the Magrahat incident. I feel ashamed for the death of a schoolgirl and a mother. That is why I have ordered a judicial probe into the incident by former Justice Prabir Samanta,” the chief minister said at Writers’ Buildings.
Sengupta, a former judge of Calcutta High Court, said tonight that he was yet to receive any order from the government concerning his appointment. “I will not be in a position to say anything till I get the order,” he said.
The police had allegedly fired at a crowd in Nainan village during a clash with the residents, who protested when officials of the state power utility tried to disconnect the illegal lines through which power was being hooked and tapped. Yesterday, 14 policemen were taken off duty and the officer in charge of the local police station was removed after a preliminary probe found that some policemen had flouted orders to fire only in the air. They had instead fired at the crowd.
Senior police officers have said the law-enforcers fired “in the air” when they failed to disperse the crowd after eight rounds of tear gas shells and a lathicharge.
CPM leader Surjya Kanta Mishra, who had yesterday demanded a judicial probe, “welcomed” Mamata’s announcement, but added: “It would have been better if the probe had been done by a sitting judge.”
The chief minister also announced a CID investigation into the firing that will run concurrently with the judicial probe. “The CID probe has been ordered keeping in mind the recommendations of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). The probe will bring out the truth about the series of events leading to the firing,” Mamata said. According to NHRC guidelines, a probe has to be started into any death from police firing within 48 hours of the death.
A CID team visited Nainan today and spoke to villagers.
Inspector-general (south Bengal) Sanjoy Mukherjee and DIG (Presidency range) S.N. Gupta today met director-general of police Naparajit Mukherjee and handed over a preliminary report on the findings of a probe into the firing.
Governor M.K. Narayanan today said the police should have maintained “more restraint” in tackling the Mograhat incident.
“The police should have maintained more restraint. But they might have opened fire in Mograhat because they were forced to do so. I know that in some situations, the police are forced to open fire. The incident is unfortunate. But I don’t want to elaborate on the matter as the chief minister has already condoled the incident,” he said.
The residents of Nainan, 80km from Calcutta, today formed a People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCPA), like the one formed in West Midnapore’s Lalgarh during the “tribal movement” of 2008-09.
The PCPA of Lalgarh was floated to protest alleged police atrocities in the aftermath of a Maoists-triggered bomb attack targeting then chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s convoy in Salboni on November 2, 2008.
“The people of Lalgarh and other areas of Jungle Mahal had benefited after the PCPA was formed. We believe that the police atrocities on us will also stop now that we have formed a PCPA,” said Mohammed Abul Khayer, 60, a marginal farmer in Nainan. Khayer is one of the two convenors of the committee.
“The police have not entered our village since Thursday and we will not allow them here anymore. Peace has returned to Nainan now,” said Abdullah Mallick, 40, a PCPA member.
After the firing, the chief minister had instructed the police not to raid the village to arrest those involved in the clash because the “primary concern is to restore peace”. No uniformed personnel were seen in Nainan though the CPM observed a 12-hour bandh in Mograhat today to protest the firing.
K.P. Barui, the additional superintendent of police of South 24-Parganas, however, said plainclothesmen had been patrolling the village since Thursday.
