Times of India: Bhubaneswar: Wednesday,
September 28, 2016.
The state
government has appointed the district and sessions judge, Kandhamal, as the
one-man inquiry commission to probe the killing of five persons in alleged
police-Maoists crossfire at Gumudumaha village in Kandhamal district on July 8.
According to
a written reply by chief minister Naveen Patnaik in the assembly on Monday, the
inquiry commission was appointed on July 22.
The CM said
the commission will find out the sequence of events leading to the killings,
whether police firing was justified and recommendations to prevent recurrence
of such incidents. His reply about the commission has surprised human rights
campaigners as the government had not made any announcement about such a
commission though it was formed three months ago. "I am surprised why the
government was silent," said human rights campaigner Biswapriya Kanungo.
The government on August 10 had declined to provide information to an
application filed by Kanungo seeking details of the commission and its terms of
reference.
Kanungo had
sought copy of the government order, approval and note-sheet for constituting
the commission besides a list of those killed and injured, copies of the
post-mortem reports, government decisions and steps taken so far on the
incident and proceedings of a review meeting chaired by chief minister Naveen
Patnaik into the killings.
The
information cant be supplied as per Section 8 (1) (h) of the RTI Act, 2005,
since (disclosure of) the information would impede the process of investigation
of the police firing, the public information officer said in a letter issued on
August 10.
.JPG)
.JPG)
