The Chhattisgarh High Court on Wednesday stayed the proceedings of the judicial commission probing the massacre of Congress leaders at the Jheeram Valley in Bastar in a Maoist ambush on May 25, 2013.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice Arup Kumar Goswami and Justice R.C.S. Samant took the decision while hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the Leader of the Opposition in the Chhattisgarh Assembly, Dharamlal Kaushik.
Advocate Vivek Sharma, who pleaded for Kaushik, told The Pioneer that they wanted the Prashant Mishra Commission report into the massacre presented in the Assembly and made public besides declaring the new commission illegal.
The Bench issued notices to the Chhattisgarh government and the judicial commission and fixed the next date of hearing on July 4, Sharma said.
The Chhattisgarh government in November added two new members to the judicial commission and made Justice Satish K Agnihotri its Chairman after expanding the panel’s ambit.
The panel was asked to submit its report within six months.
The new terms of reference included if the victims got timely medical help and if steps have been taken to prevent recurrence of such incidents.
Alleged Naxalites targeted a Congress rally in Bastar in 2013 killing among others PCC President Nand Kumar Patel, his elder son Dinesh Patel, Mahendra Karma, Uday Mudliyar and former Union Minister Vidya Charan Shukla.