The Forbesganj police firing which was apparently erased from the public memory once again came into sharp focus but not before the Bagha police firing which claimed lives of six Tharu tribals last month, soon after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar snapped the JD(U)’s 17-year-old ties with the BJP.
Though families of the Tharu tribals who were killed in the police firing had already received the financial compensation from the Government, families of those killed in the Forbesganj police firing are still awaiting the report from a judicial commission, specially constituted to probe the matter.
Except the family of a six-month-old child who also became the victim of the Forbesganj police firing, families of all other victims will get compensation only when the police firing is held unjustified by the judicial commission.
State BJP president Mangal Pandey told The Pioneer that the judicial commissions constituted for inquiring into the police firings should give their reports within a stipulated time frame. He also asked why the State Government is discriminating against families of those killed in the Forbesganj police firing when it has already given compensation to families of the Bagha police firing victims.
If one looks at the Forbesganj police firing inquiry commission, it has yet to submit its report despite the fact that the commission was constituted through an official notification way back on June 22, 2011. The four people died when the police opened fire on June 3, 2011 to disperse a mob protesting the closure of the road leading to their village due to the construction of a starch factory. All victims belonged to the Muslim community.
The one-member Forbesganj inquiry commission is headed by a retired judge of the Patna High Court, Justice Madhavendra Sharan. Secretary to the Forbesganj police firing inquiry commission, retired Judge, SM Naseemuddin told The Pioneer that the first hearing of the commission was held as late as on June 21, 2012 due to the lack of office infrastructure and other hiccups. The commission could get its own office in January 2012 only after several months of the procedural delays, though it was given some accommodation at the State Home Department for nearly one month so that it could discharge some essential duties like publication of advertisement for inviting petitions from villages, NGOs and other stakeholders. The judicial commission had received altogether 190 affidavits from individuals and other groups concerned after the advertisement was published.
The commission has recorded statements of 169 villagers by conducting hearings at Araria while it is recording statements of NGOs and individuals like doctors in Patna presently. Once statements of all petitioners are recorded, they will be cross-examined by lawyers but the Secretary exudes confidence that the commission would be able to submit its report to the State Government in “near future”.
Reacting to the inordinate delay in the Forbesganj police firing inquiry commission report, State Congress president Ashok Choudhary said that the Chief Minister should go beyond “tokenism” and should ensure that the commission submits its report at the earliest if he really wants to establish his secular credentials among Muslims. “The delay in submission of reports by judicial commissions, constituted for the purpose of inquiry into violence against minority community is only shaking the people’s faith in the secular credentials of such politicians,” he remarked.
A retired judge said that it is up to the State Government whether it wants to give compensation to victims of a police firing and it should not be linked to any judicial commission constituted to inquire into the incident.