The situation in Nandigram on March 14 was not provocative enough to warrant police firing in which 14 people died, Calcutta High Court has observed in a judgment that termed the action %u201Cwholly unconstitutional%u201D.
The conclusion %u2014 possibly based on a preliminary CBI report saying the police shot to kill, not to scatter %u2014 suggests skilled crowd management could have averted the chain of events that triggered the gravest crisis in Bengal in recent memory.
The 172-page judgment punches holes in the government%u2019s version of events, lengthening its list of woes in the middle of a fresh furore over Nandigram and before it could recover from the loss of face in the Rizwanur Rahman case.
The mob at Nandigram had not prevented the police from carrying out their duties, the court said while stepping up the size and sweep of compensation announced by the government.
The judgment also cleared the haze over the number of casualties in the police firing by putting the toll at 14 %u2014 one of whom remains unidentified %u2014 and the injured at 162.
Government officials and politicians have been saying off and on that some victims had died of %u201Cvarious causes%u201D, implying that bombs hurled or bullets fired by the mob itself could have killed them. But the judgment mentions %u201Cpolice firing%u201D and %u201Cindiscriminate police firing%u201D in which 14 %u201Cinnocent villagers%u201D died.
Another government claim %u2014 that the crowd was armed %u2014
