Rights panel asks WB govt to pay Rs50,000 compensation to wronged professor

The West Bengal Human Rights Commission headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice Asok Kumar Ganguly has recommended that the state government pay Rs50,000 each to former Jadavpur University professor Ambikesh Mahapatra and his neighbour Subroto Roy for their midnight arrest after they circulated a cartoon of chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

The commission, which took suo moto cognisance of the incident, also called for institution of a departmental enquiry against the officer in charge and sub-inspector of Jadavpur thana, who arrested the two.

Ganguly said Mahapatra and Sengupta must be compensated by the government for the manner of their arrest from their residential complex and detention for a non-cognisable offence. He added that compensation (should) be paid within a period of six weeks.

Reacting to the recommendations, professor Mahapatra said those who directed the police personnel to take him and the housing cooperative society to the police station and the person who complained against him needed to be punished. But, behind the two personnel it seemed there were some powerful figures who directed the police personnel to act according to their wish, he added.

Taking a strong note of the incident, the commission said that citizens critical of the ruling party could not be hauled up from their residence by the police and if it were to continue the state would be headed for a totalitarian regime. The commission could not be a mute spectator to such a sordid situation, it added.

On 12 April, Professor Mahapatra was assaulted allegedly by Tiranmool Congress workers for forwarding anti-Mamata Banerjee cartoons via email to around 65 people. He was arrested by the police late on 19 April and produced at a court in Alipore. Though he was released on bail later, he said he was forced to give a written statement to the effect that he was an active member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

The order follows a day after Press Council of India chairman Markandey Katju slammed Banerjee as ''dictatorial and whimsical'' for arresting a villager from Belpahari dubbing his a "Maoist."

The commission said the action of the state government against Mahapatra and Sengupta led to loss of face for both of them and the government needed to compensate them by paying them Rs50,000 each.