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Nandi cops lose Left shield

OUR LEGAL CORRESPONDENT

New Delhi, Feb. 24: The Supreme Court today allowed the Mamata Banerjee-led government to withdraw its Left predecessor's appeal against a Calcutta High Court order that described the March 2007 Nandigram police firing as "unconstitutional" and "wholly unjustified". The move will allow the CBI to prosecute the policemen accused of firing at villagers protesting against land acquisition. The CBI had, under the high court directive, already probed their role but had not filed cases against them awaiting a court decision on the appeal. Justice C.K. Prasad, sitting in his chamber, passed the order today. Full details of the order are not available yet. Following today's decision, the "unconstitutional" tag given by the high court on the firing will also stand, as will the decision to strike down a Bengal police rule that asks the force to shoot directly at a crowd instead of first firing warning shots in the air. On March 14, 2007, police fired at villagers in Nandigram, killing 14 people that fuelled a political movement against land acquisition for industry that ended 34 years of Left rule in Bengal. The November 16, 2007, order of Calcutta High Court had asked the CBI to probe the firing and prosecute the policemen and officials involved. It also said the state should compensate all the victims. If the top court accepts the state's plea, it may also lift its stay on the CBI filing cases, an order it had passed on December 13, 2007, following the Left government's appeal. That appeal, filed on December 4, 2007, had said the high court "was wholly unjustified in rendering strong and definite findings of the unconstitutionality and the illegality in the firing which the police were forced to undertake". Police quiz CID officers on Friday interrogated a former superintendent of East Midnapore police Satya Shankar Panda over his alleged role in removing a sanctioned police outpost and a picket from Tekhali bridge in Nandigram four days before alleged CPM cadres from Khejuri attacked anti-land acquisition protesters in a bid to recapture the area on November 10, 2007. CID sources said Panda, now retired, was interrogated for four hours at Bhavani Bhavan. "Panda told us that he did so following verbal instructions of his superior officers including the then director-general of police A.B. Vohra, inspector general of police (law and order) Raj Kanojia and deputy inspector general of police (Midnapore Range) N.R. Babu," said a CID officer. A CID official said that Panda started feeling "ill" when he was being questioned about the involvement of CPM leaders Tapan Ghosh and Sukur Ali during the recapture. "Panda requested us that he be summoned another day for questioning," a CID officer said.