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Continue probe, court tells CBI

Staff Reporter

“ March 14 police firing in Nandigram unconstitutional”

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Friday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to continue the probe into the March 14 police firing in Nandigram. It also asked the agency asked to submit a report within a month.

A Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice S.S. Nijjar and Justice P.C. Ghose, also directed the State government to pay compensation to those killed, injured or raped on that day in Nandigram and described the police firing as “unconstitutional.”

The West Bengal government was advised by Advocate General Balai Roy to appeal against the ruling in the Supreme Court.

The judgment had an “appealable point,” in that the court had ordered a CBI inquiry without seeking the government consent, Mr. Roy said.

However, Kalyan Banerjee, counsel for one of the petitioners, contended that the court had stated in “unequivocal terms that a High Court had the power to initiate such an inquiry under Article 226 of the Constitution,” and that the Chief Minister’s subsequent statement on the floor of the Assembly, pertaining to CBI inquiry, amounted to consent.

The High Court ordered a CBI probe a day after the March 14 firing, based on a public interest litigation petition filed by lawyers.

In the 172-page-judgment, the Bench said the government should pay at least Rs. 5 lakh to the next of kin of those killed, Rs. 2 lakh for those raped and Rs. 1 lakh for the injured.

It also asked the CBI to conduct a full investigation into the punishable offences committed and initiate criminal proceedings against those responsible in the appropriate court of law.

Fourteen people were killed and 162 injured in the police firing and subsequent violence on March 14.

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