West Bengal CM Tables 1993 Police Firing Inquiry Report in Assembly

PTI, July 20, 2026, Kolkata :   West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Monday tabled in the Assembly an inquiry panel report on the 1993 police firing that killed 13 Youth Congress workers, and accused the TMC government of exploiting the incident for political gains and suppressing the commission's findings for two years.

Tabling the Justice (Retd) Sushanta Chatterjee Commission report a day ahead of the TMC's July 21 annual rally, which commemorates those killed in the incident over three decades ago, Adhikari said the Mamata Banerjee dispensation had neither implemented several key recommendations of the panel nor made its report public despite receiving it in 2024.

"The commission recommended Rs 25 lakh as compensation for the family of each person killed and Rs 5 lakh for every injured person. But the previous TMC government neither implemented these recommendations nor paid the compensation," Adhikari said.

The families of those killed received only Rs 2 lakh and the injured Rs 15,000, the chief minister alleged.

He also announced that families of the victims could lodge fresh FIRs and said the present BJP government would extend all legal assistance.

Adhikari further said his government would pay the balance compensation recommended by the commission from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund.

"The July 21 incident was used politically. Many people have built their political and personal fortunes on it," Adhikari said, adding that while some gained political positions and enjoyed power by invoking the incident, the people of West Bengal were never told what had actually happened on that day.

Without naming anyone, he alleged that some leaders had used the issue to build personal wealth, travel abroad on chartered flights, and acquire properties, while the victims' families remained neglected.

The July 21 Martyrs' Day traces its origins to the same day of 1993, when 13 Youth Congress workers were killed in police firing during a rally led by Mamata Banerjee, then state Youth Congress president, at Esplanade in the heart of the city during the Left Front regime.

The Congress had declared the day as Martyrs' Day in memory of those killed.

After Mamata Banerjee disassociated from the Congress and formed the Trinamool Congress in the late 1990s, her party gradually took over the annual observance, holding massive rallies at Dharmatala every year.

Reading out portions of the commission report, Adhikari said it had concluded there was no situation warranting police firing on the Youth Congress rally and described the use of force as "unnecessary, unjustified and unprovoked".

According to him, the commission found that apprehensions of protesters storming Writers' Buildings, the then state secretariat, were "imaginary" and that police firing at Mayo Road, Dorina Crossing and Esplanade was completely unwarranted.

The chief minister also claimed the commission had observed that several relevant records connected with the incident had gone missing from Writers' Buildings and alleged that the previous government had shown a "negative and indifferent" attitude in providing documents to the inquiry.

Referring to the commission's proceedings, Adhikari questioned why Mamata Banerjee, whom he described as the "biggest witness" to the incident, was never summoned to depose despite the panel examining more than 300 witnesses.

He also referred to evidence before the commission, claiming that former Leader of the Opposition Pankaj Banerjee, who had been cited as a witness, had blamed then home secretary Manish Gupta for the firing.

"He (Gupta) later became the power minister in the TMC government. And the person who claims to be the biggest witness of the incident, Mamata Banerjee, was never called by the commission," Adhikari said.

The chief minister further said the panel had prepared a list of 44 key witnesses, including Gupta, former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, ex-Kolkata Police commissioner Tushar Talukdar, veteran Left leader Biman Bose and former Congress leader Somen Mitra, but questioned why Banerjee herself was not examined.

The Justice (Retd) Sushanta Chatterjee Commission was set up by the Mamata Banerjee government in 2011 to probe the police firing on Youth Congress supporters marching towards Writers' Buildings on July 21, 1993.

Leading the rally against the then Left Front government, Mamata Banerjee herself was injured during the police action.

Among its recommendations were disciplinary action against several IPS officers who had served during the then Left Front government.

The report, however, was not tabled in the Assembly during the TMC government's tenure, nor was any official announcement made regarding the implementation of its recommendations.

Adhikari said his government would subsequently table other pending reports in the Assembly, including those relating to the Comptroller and Auditor General's observations on Cyclone Amphan relief and alleged irregularities in the procurement of medical equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic.