Tribunal seeks peer-help to move court on Nandigram report

Kolkata, Aug 10 (UNI) The All India Citizens' Initiative, an NGO which published its report of People's Tribunal on Nandigram firing on March 14 yesterday, is likely to file a suit based on its findings.

The Tribunal report said the firing and subsequent violence was "pre-planned," and "state-sponsored massacre" carried out "to teach a lesson" to the people opposing the SEZ project at Nandigram in Medinipur.

Rabin Chakraborty, spokesperson for the Initiative, told UNI, "We have a report at hand. It has depositions of people who are victims of the incident. There is gross violation of human rights and two cases can be moved immediately independent of the inquiry going on." "However, we do not have the resources to carry out a legal battle. We have approached several organisations including the bar association and the Nagarik Mancha. We are just hoping that someone will take up our cause. We are ready to support them," he said.

"The court could be moved on the findings of the missing body of Subrata Samanta or based on the plight of the rape victims," he said.

The report has recommended continuation of the CBI investigation, initiated by the Calcutta High Court on March 15, but wound up in just a week. Among other aspects it wanted the CBI to inquire into the specific roles played by members of the local and state administration in the killings of innocent people and atrocities on women, the report stated.

The Tribunal report, handed over to West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi on August 8 also called for the re-arrest of the ten CPI(M) cadres taken into custody earlier by CBI, but let off on bail due to the deliberate laxity of the state police in filing charges against them within the statutory period.

In its findings the Tribunal said on March 14 "there were a disturbingly large number of incidents of sexual violence by both police and armed ruling party cadre against women, many of them carried out in the most cruel, degrading and inhuman manner".

In order to provide speedy justice to the victims the tribunal report has asked the judiciary to consider setting up a special bench, headed by a woman judge, to hear all cases of rape, molestation and violence against women of Nandigram by both police personnel and armed cadre of the CPI(M).

The Tribunal report has further called upon Calcutta High Court to appoint a "monitoring committee" to ensure that there is no repetition of the violence of March 14. It pointed out since that day there have been at least 25 incidents of armed "intrusion" by CPI(M) cadre into the Nandigram area for which no one has been arrested.

The 100-page report, based on prima facie evidence as well as over 194 depositions from people and organisations in Nandigram and Kolkata, has also asked the national human rights commission to look into the issue of immediate distribution of ex-gratia payment to all those killed or injured in the violence of March 14.

The report said the people of Nandigram should also be legally assisted in obtaining compensation and damages for death, injuries or damaged properties from the government.

The Governor told the delegation of Citizens, who met him to present the Tribunal report as saying that he will go through its contents and take appropriate action as required, .

The Tribunal, organized by the All India Citizens' Initiative, a network of concerned citizens across India, heard depositions from victims, witnesses, social activists, intellectuals, doctors, human rights groups and other concerned organisations. The hearings were held in both Nandigram and Kolkata from May 26-28 and headed by Justice S N Bhargava, former Chief Justice of Sikkim High Court.

Tribunal members, which included Prabhash Joshi (Founder Editor, Jansatta), Lalita Ramdas (social activist), John Dayal (Member, national integration council) and Jyotirmoy Samajder (psychiatrist), visited the site of police firing and other places at Nandigram to investigate the circumstances and nature of the violence.

UNI