On the day when lakhs of Trinamool Congress (TMC) supporters thronged the streets of the city on Monday to pay homage to the Youth Congress activists killed in police firing on July 21, 1993, there was no reference to the one-man commission of inquiry formed by the Trinamool government to probe the police firing.
The notification for setting up a commission of inquiry under retired Calcutta High Court Judge Sushanta Chatterjee was issued on November 4, 2011, months after the TMC came to power in May 2011, but the commission has not submitted its report so far.
During her 30-minute speech, TMC chairperson and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee made no reference to the commission of inquiry or justice for the 13 Youth Congress supporters killed on July 21, 1993, during ‘March to Writers’ Building (State Secretariat)’.
“We have completed 99 per cent of the work. In the course of functioning of the commission we have examined and recorded statements of 300 witnesses, who were present at the rally along with 46 senior police officers,” Justice (retd) Sushanta Chatterjee told The Hindu on Monday.
Justice Chatterjee said that senior politicians from all political parties have also deposed before the inquiry commission along with journalists who covered the incident.
Among the politicians, who were summoned by the commission, are former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who was the Information and Cultural Affairs Minister when the firing occurred, and Transport Minister Madan Mitra.
Justice Chatterjee, however, said that three senior police personnel, who were present at the spot, have refused to depose before the commission and sought intervention of Calcutta High Court.
The officers, Dinesh Vajpayee, who was the Additional Commissioner of Police, Naval Kishor Singh, the then Deputy Commissioner of Police (South), and R K Johari, the then Joint Commissioner Special Branch, have moved Calcutta High Court.
“The officers first said that they would depose after all private witnesses have deposed before the commission, but then they moved the court,” Justice Chatterjee said.
The petition of three police officers stating that they do not want to appear before the commission was dismissed by Justice Dipankar Datta following which the officers approached a Division Bench. Interestingly, Monday was the last day for submission of the summary of points of hearing for the commission of inquiry and three officers before the Division Bench of Justice Pranab Chattopadhyay and Justice Samapti Chaterjee. Both the parties (commission and officers) submitted summary points of the hearing.
