Intn'l human rights orgns seek judicial probe into Nandigram

New Delhi, Jan 15 (UNI) The Amnesty International and the Human Rights Watch have sought an immediate independent and impartial judicial inquiry into the serious acts of violence in West Bengal's Nandigram area since early 2007 to ''prevent impunity for the perpetrators'' who mostly belonged to the ruling CPI(M).

The Amnesty International and the Human Rights Watch have jointly released a report on Nandigram violence here today.

Titled ''Urgent Need to Address Large-scale Human Rights Abuse During Nandigram Recapture'', the report focuses on recent abuses in the context of violence in late October and November last year, which it said were reportedly carried out by armed supporters of the CPI(M), that heads the Left Front government in West Bengal.

The West Bengal government should prosecute those responsible for human right abuses and examine both the socio-political origins of the violence and the failure of the state authorities to provide effective protection to the community, said the report.

A four-member fact finding team, comprising former Sikkim High Court Chief Justice S N Bhargava, advocate Vrinda Grover, Human Rights Watch senior researcher Meenakshi Ganguly and Amnesty International India Director Mukul Sharma, visited Nandigram and Kolkata from November 28 to 30 last year.

The team visited the affected villages, relief camps and met with the victims of the violence in Nandigram, as well as government officials and human rights activists.

''It was obvious during our visit to Nandigram that the state authorities had not acted in an impartial manner,'' Mr Sharma told journalists here after releasing the report.

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