1993 firing worse than Jallianwala bagh massacre: Sushanta Chatterjee Commission

Kolkata: The Sushanta Chatterjee Commission that probed the police firing on a Youth Congress rally in 1993 killing 13 persons has in its probe report concluded that the police firing was unwarranted, unprovoked, unconstitutional and “much worse” than the Jallianwala Bagh massacre during the British Raj.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who was then Youth Congress president was leading the agitation.

“There was no necessity to resort to firing that caused the death of 13 persons,” said Justice (retd.) Sushanta Chatterjee, who headed the panel set up by the Mamata government soon after coming to power in 2011, in his report.

The Commission failed to identify the person who had ordered the firing. An important finding of the report which Justice (retd) Chatterjee submitted to the government on Monday was that 12 and not 13 people were killed in the firing as had so far been understood.

The panel recommended a compensation of Rs 25 lakh to the families of each of those who were killed and Rs 5 lakh each to those who were injured.

The panel has held the people at the helm in the state home department and the police top brass responsible for the firing on Youth Congress activists who had marched to Writers’ Building.

“It is definite that the police had opened fire. The top brasses cannot deny that they were aware of the firing as the top police brass was in constant touch with persons in the home department,” Justice Chatterjee said.