NIRMALA CHAKRABORTY Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The instant writ application has been preferred challenging inter alia the denial of the respondents to grant compensation to the petitioner for the loss suffered by her due to the murder of her son.

(2.) Shorn of unnecessary details, the facts are that Sanjoy Chakraborty, the son of the petitioner and his two friends, namely, Radha Mohan Mali and Samiran Ghosh were returning from Serampore to Belur through G.T. Road at midnight on 3rd September, 2003, at about 12:30 a.m., when they were flagged down for checking by three men who identified themselves as police officers. The two friends of the victim accordingly stopped for such checking which was conducted by one Santanu Chakraborty, one Swapan Sengupta and one Jahar Modak but the victim did not stop and proceeded further riding his motor bike and accordingly the said Swapan Sengupta contacted one Purnendu Samanta, police constable, over mobile phone and informed him that the victim had defied their signal to stop. The said Swapan Sengupta and Santanu Chakraborty chased the said victim on a scooter up to Bally Khal College and upon reaching the said site they found the victim lying next to his motor bike but Purnendu Samanta was not found. They immediately took the victim to the hospital where it was certified that the victim was brought dead. The complaint as regards the said incident was lodged on 4th September, 2003 at 5:30 a.m. by one Samiran Ghosh and on the basis of the same the Uttarpara P.S. Case No.128/03 dated 4th September, 2003 under Section 304 of the Indian Penal Code (hereinafter referred to as IPC) was registered and after investigation the charge sheet under Section 302 of IPC was submitted against Purnendu Samanta and thereafter a supplementary charge sheet was submitted on 5th May, 2004. During pendency of the trial the respondent no.2 by a memorandum dated 4th July, 2006 appointed the Deputy Magistrate and Deputy Collector, Serampore, Hooghly to hold an executive enquiry into the police firing at Uttarpara near Bally Khal on 4th September, 2003 and the Inspector-in-Charge, Uttarpara P.S., namely, Shri Prabir Roy, I.C. was appointed as associate officer by the Superintendent of Police in Hooghly vide memorandum dated 21st May, 2007. Accordingly, such executive enquiry into the incident of police firing under Regulation 157 of the Police Regulations of Bengal, 1953, was conducted and the report was forwarded to the respondent no.2 vide memorandum dated 4th February, 2008 but thereafter no follow up action was taken by the respondents.

(3.) The charge under Section 302 of the IPC was framed against the accused, namely, Purnendu Samanta to which he pleaded not guilty and as such the trial commenced and almost 5 years thereafter the judgment was delivered on 18th April, 2008 in S.T. No.2/2006/ S.C. No.204/05 and the learned Court sentenced Purnendu Samanta to suffer rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.10,000/-, in default to suffer rigorous imprisonment for 2 more years. Subsequent thereto, on 3rd December, 2008 the petitioner made a representation to the respondent no.2 demanding compensation for the murder of her son but the same was not responded to. Espousing the cause of the petitioner a representation was also made by the President of the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (hereinafter referred to as the said Association) to the respondent no.2 on 3rd December, 2008 but the said representations were not responded to and accordingly the petitioner approached this Court through the instant application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India on 11th May, 2009.