HC raps WB government on Nandigram

Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed the state government to make immediate arrangement for treatment of people affected in clashes in Nandigram and entry of NGOs and media persons into the village.

The two-judge vacation bench comprising Justices Girish Chandra Gupta and Tapan Mukherjee issued the ruling on a petition filed by Calcutta High Court Bar Association president Amar Mukherjee and two others. The petitioners claimed that at least 10 people had been killed and many more injured in the fresh clashes that had broken out in Nandigram.

The government had been ordered to arrange for the immediate treatment of people wounded in clashes between supporters of the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist and villagers in Nandigram.

The bench, expressing anguish over the administration's 'inability' to tackle the situation, held that the government should immediately swing into action to restore peace in the strife-torn

area, which witnessed violent clashes recently over the land acquisition issue for the setting up of a chemical hub.

The government had, however, earlier announced its decision to shelve the plan following protests by supporters of the Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee.

In the petition, the bar association president held that supporters of the ruling party had attacked unarmed villagers during the past few days in order to regain their position in Nandigram, about 120 km south of Kolkata.

He also alleged that police remained a silent spectator when CPI-M supporters fired indiscriminately at the villagers.