HC calls Nandigram firing unjustified;State plans to move apex court

Kolkata, Nov 16 (UNI) Calcutta High Court today held that the March 14 firing in Nandigram was unjustified and asked the West Bengal government to pay due compensation to the victims, even as the government was thinking of moving the Supreme Court against the verdict.

A two-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Surinder Singh Nijjhar, also directed the Central Bureau of Investigation, probing the incident in which 14 people were killed and several injured, to file a report before the court within a month.

Even as the Bench wrapped up the hearing on a PIL in the third week of July, it had reserved the verdict till today.

The court ruled that the state government must pay a compensation of Rs five lakh each to the next of kin of those killed in the firing, Rs one lakh each to the injured and Rs two lakh each to victims of rape during the carnage.

It also observed that the court had a constitutional right to admit the case, which had been argued by state Advocate General Balai Roy.

Mr Roy pleaded before the Bench not to deliver the verdict as the government felt it was not under the jurisdiction of the High Court.

Mr Roy stated that the State Government was thinking of filing an appeal before the Apex Court.

Eds: Pls pick up suitably from earlier series.

UNI