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MP Dr Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who recently joined the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) from Trinamool Congress (TMC) has written to West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari seeking a fresh investigation into the July 21, 1993 police firing on Youth Congress workers in Kolkata, alleging that successive governments failed to prosecute those responsible and demanding publication of the inquiry commission's report.
In her letter dated July 2, Dastidar sought a forensic reinvestigation into the incident, including custodial interrogation of police officers, bureaucrats and political leaders allegedly responsible for the firing, in which 13 Youth Congress workers were killed during a protest at Esplanade. Calling the incident a "gross miscarriage of justice," Dastidar wrote, "Despite coming to power in 2011 on the promise of justice for the 21 July martyrs, the Trinamool Congress government has failed to prosecute the ministers, bureaucrats and police officers responsible." She questioned the elevation of former Home Secretary Manish Gupta, alleging that instead of facing prosecution, he was appointed a Cabinet Minister and later nominated to the Rajya Sabha. "Manish Gupta, the then Home Secretary, was never arrested or prosecuted. On the contrary, he was elevated by the Mamata Banerjee government as a Cabinet Minister and later made a Rajya Sabha MP. This promotion of a key functionary from the Jyoti Basu era raises serious questions of collusion and protection of the guilty," the letter stated. The MP also alleged that crucial records related to the case had disappeared. "Critical files related to the 21 July firing went missing from police headquarters (Lalbazar) and the state secretariat (Writers' Buildings), as noted by the Commission. No serious effort was made to recover or reconstruct them," she wrote. In the letter, Dastidar urged the Chief Minister to reopen the case, publish the findings of the Justice Sushanta Chatterjee Commission, initiate criminal proceedings against those found responsible, order a time-bound forensic reinvestigation, if necessary, with international assistance, and implement the Commission's recommendations on compensation and rehabilitation for the victims' families. She further wrote, "If justice is denied, it will only strengthen the perception that the Trinamool Congress government has colluded to shield former Chief Minister Jyoti Basu and Left Front leadership responsible for the 21 July atrocity, betraying the very martyrs whose memory it claims to honour." (ANI)
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