Find and destroy armed camps in Bengal, court tells forces
January 19th, 2011 - 5:17 pm ICT by IANSKolkata, Jan 19 (IANS) The Calcutta High Court Wednesday directed the joint security forces to find out if armed camps existed in West Bengal’s Junglemahal area and destroy them. It also asked the state government to pay compensation to the victims of the Jan 7 Netai village carnage but refused to order a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the massacre.
A division bench of Chief Justice J.N. Patel and Justice A.K. Roy, in an interim order, asked the state police Criminal Investigation Department CID) to continue its inquiry. However, the court would monitor the probe.
The order came in the wake of a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by the Calcutta High Court Bar Association pleading for a CBI probe into the violence in the village near the Maoist hub of Lalgarh, about 200 km west of Kolkata in West Midnapore district.
It has been alleged that the violence was triggered by firing from an armed camp run from the compound of a Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader’s house. The CPI-M is the major partner in the Left Front, which is ruling the state uninterruptedly since 1977.
Directing the state government to pay compensation to the victims in seven days, the court said kin of those who died in firing have to be paid a compensation of Rs.2 lakh each, while the seriously injured would get Rs.1 lakh and other injured Rs.50,000 each.
On the armed camps which are said to be run in the Junglemahal -the forest areas of West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura districts where the Maoist guerillas are active - the bench directed the joint security forces operating in the area to find out whether such camps exist and destroy them.
The bench also asked the state home secretary to submit a compliance report on the order.
The report, to be filed by the next date of hearing Feb 4, will have to give details of the progress of the CID probe, the court said.
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- Lalgarh killings: Supreme Court slams WB Govt. for opposing CBI probe - Mar 01, 2011
- CBI team visits Netai to investigate Jan 7 killings - Feb 26, 2011
- CBI files preliminary report on Netai killings - Mar 04, 2011
- Lalgarh killings: Governor Narayanan to visit Netai village on Jan. 19 - Jan 14, 2011
- Why not order CBI probe in Lalgarh carnage: Court - Jan 11, 2011
- Lalgarh carnage: Court asks Bengal to file affidavit (Lead) - Jan 12, 2011
- Eight held for Netai carnage in Bengal (Lead) - Mar 14, 2011
- Lalgarh violence: West Bengal Govt. asked to clarify its stand - Jan 11, 2011
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- Lalgarh killings: Hearing on public suit adjourned to Jan 18 - Jan 14, 2011
- West Bengal asked to produce case diary of Lalgarh incident - Jan 10, 2011
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Tags: bankura, calcutta high court, cbi probe, central bureau of investigation, cid probe, communist party of india, communist party of india marxist, compliance report, criminal investigation department, division bench, forest areas, guerillas, maoist, midnapore district, netai, public interest litigation, purulia, rs 2, rs 50, west bengal