[DEBATE] : (Fwd) Nandigram judgement favours (dead) protesters

[Patrick Bond]

National Alliance of People's Movements
National Office : Haji Habib Building, Dadar (E), Mumbai 400014
Ph : 022 2415 0529 / 9969530060

• Kolkata High Court Judgment on Nandigram Upholds Human Justice
• CBI Investigations Must Cover October-November Events Too
• United Peoples Movement to Ensure Criminal Punitive Action Against the 
Culprits

The judgment on Nandigram that was finally delivered by the High Court 
of Kolkata on November 15th is no doubt a victory of the struggle by the 
people on the ground as well as the intellectuals including the 
advocates united on the issue. The petitions filed included PILs based 
on letter written to the Chief Justice on March 15 by Sumit Chakravarty, 
Prashant Bhushan and Medha Patkar and those by APDR (Association for the 
Protection of the Democratic Rights), Paschim Bengal Khet Majdoor Samiti 
and Bar Association along with others. That there had to be a boycott of 
the HC proceedings to get the pending judgment delivered after months, 
shows the need for judicial review and reform, to ensure timely justice 
for the common people, the victims of the development paradigm and State 
violence.
The judgment, however, hails our position that the firing on March 14th 
resulting in killing many a peaceful agitators was unconstitutional. 
This was minimum acknowledgement necessary to do justice to the martyrs 
while the next logical and legal step of booking the culprits based on 
the complaints filed by the victims and the CBI investigation report is 
to be ensured at the earliest. The court's directive in this regard is 
not likely to be so easily followed by the state government which is 
expressively callous and critical of the judgment. It will have to be 
the responsibility of the concerned and conscientious organizations and 
parties to see that the directive is pursued and the guilty is punished.
The reaction of Biman Bose, CPI (M) is not surprising but startling. 
Even when the judgment is fully within the legal and judicial framework 
he has questioned it as intrusion in to the domain of Executive and 
Legislative. This needs to be condemned.
The most important of all is furthering CBI investigations to cover 
October-November events also. The judgment, one hopes, is interpreted to 
allow this, since the people of Nandigram are facing the same wrath and 
crime in relation to the political conflict they raised against the 
State, forcing many more killings this time than in March 2007.
The compensation directed to be paid to the victims is 5 lakhs instead 
of 2 lakhs announced by the WB govt to the families of the dead, and 2 
lakhs to the raped and molested women. This is more than justifiable and 
yet somewhat inadequate. Knowing that the wounded and molested are till 
date unable to even pay for the treatment due to loss of livelihood, 
this is to be a great relief for them, no doubt.
The declaration of Regulation of Police, West Bengal Act of 1943 is 
declared as ultra vires under article 14, 19, 21 of the constitution is 
also a major indication of the fact that the judiciary in WB has arisen 
above narrow legal framework towards constitutional rights and human 
justice. This should initiate and lead to review of many an enactment in 
the country which continue with a British legacy. Last but not the 
least, the judgment on March incidents has to be taken as indictive of 
the CPM's unjust and inhuman politics of terror and violence. It can 
however uphold and support Nandigram struggle only if the suo moto 
cognizance is also taken of the continued massacre and political 
vendetta against the once peaceful and rightful communities in 
Nandigram. Will that happen ?

Medha Patkar, Sandeep Pandey, Pranab Bannerji