In 3 months of panel’s life,4 political prisoners freed

The notification for the 13-member committee led by retired Justice Moloy Sengupta was issued on June 4.

The committee was required to identify politically motivated FIRs and prisoners undergoing trial for offences pertaining to political movements as per section 24 of the West Bengal Correctional Services Act,1992.

From the panel’s first list containing 78 names,Banerjee chose 52 names including two senior Maoists leaders. Following the objection of the Central government,the names of these two Maoists leaders were dropped. Four Kamtapuri activists have been released on bail but the cases are yet to be withdrawn.

Ranjit Sur,secretariat member of Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) said,“It is a farce. The CM did not name even the people of Nandigram and Singur who are still behind the bars. People of Junglemahal are feeling cheated as the CM had assured them that if she is voted to power,she would release all political prisoners from the area. Besides,in last three months,the state government has arrested 70 persons from Junglemahal in Maoist cases.”

Earlier,the Bandi Mukti Committee and the APDR had submitted a list containing names of 268 prisoners who are languishing in several correctional homes in political cases. The list included the names of people involved in Nandigram and Singur movements and from Junglemahal area. Of these 268 prisoners,83 have given the status of being political prisoners by the court. Among them,three are Maoist sympathisers,who are lodged in Dum Dum central correctional home. The state government and the judiciary have so far given the status of political prisoners to nine Kamtapur People’s Party (KPP) functionaries while 43 Greater Cooch Behar People’s Association (GCPA) members are enjoying the same status,said a senior correctional services department official.

When asked,Sujato Bhadra,member of the review committee on political prisoners,said,“We have requested the CM to extend the time period as we are yet to identify and verify several politically motivated cases.”

Rangta Munshi,secretary,APDR said,“We never had any trust on the review committee. We believe the committee was set up to the jeopardize the process of releasing political prisoners. Moreover,all the promises Mamata Banerjee had made to the people before election have not been fulfilled.”