A Bench of Justices R.V. Raveendran and A.K. Patnaik was hearing a batch of petitions filed by the State, the CBI, the National Human Rights Commission and the CPI (M) on the incident. After hearing senior counsel K.K. Venugopal, appearing for West Bengal, the Bench, in a brief order, said: “The CBI is directed to place the investigation reports submitted in pursuance of the order dated March 15, 2007 and November 16, 2007, before us in a sealed cover.” On the NHRC’s application for a direction to the West Bengal government to pay compensation to the victims of the incidents, the Bench asked the Commission to approach the High Court.
“No power”
After the Calcutta High Court ordered a CBI probe, the State moved the Supreme Court contending that the court had not power to order a CBI probe without the State’s consent. In December 2007, the Supreme Court allowed the CBI to complete its probe as per the High Court order but restrained it from proceeding any further and initiating prosecution against those police personnel found guilty as per the report. The CBI filed an application on August 26, 2010, to vacate that order, to proceed against the guilty officials.
During the resumed hearing on Thursday, Mr. Venugopal said the State had objections to the High Court order directing a CBI inquiry. The High Court, in its March 15, 2007 order, held that the firing on villagers was “indiscriminate” and also struck down some police regulations that permitted the State police to fire “directly” on an unlawful assembly to disperse them. The State government had been objecting to both these findings and urging the Supreme Court to set them aside.
The CBI insisted that it would not share the inquiry report with the State. “The investigation report is between us and the courts,” CBI counsel Additional Solicitor-General Vivek Tankha said. The issue of sanction would arise once a charge sheet was filed, Mr. Tankha argued. The Bench posted the matter to March 15.