By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,
Patna: The extension was expected because of late start of work by the one-man commission due to late logistical support by the state government of JDU-BJP combine. But more importantly, since the day one families of Forbesganj police firing, opposition parties and human rights groups had doubted the intension of the state government behind setting up the judicial commission.
And now the way the Justice Madhavendra Saran Commission has been given extension further doubts the purpose of the government. The panel was notified on 22nd June 2011 and it was given six months to present the report. The deadline ended on 22nd December 2011 but there was no word from the government about the extension even not in next three weeks after the term ended. The government announced the extension on 17th January 2012 only after Opposition leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui raised the issue. According to rules, the extension should have been given days before the term ended, as is done by any government for any enquiry commission. According to some media reports, the extension has been given for one year ending December 2012.
When Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had announced setting up of a judicial probe panel for the Forbesganj police firing just four days after the incident in June 2011 and rejected the demand for compensation to the victims and punishment to the police officers, people had doubted the government’s intension. They said the government does not want to punish the guilty policemen whose bullets killed four residents of Bhajanpur village in Forbesganj of Araria district on 3rd June 2011.
After Friday prayers on 3rd June, Bhajanpur villagers were protesting against the blockade of their approach road by an upcoming factory. The police opened fire. Four were killed – a six-month-old infant, a pregnant woman and two youths of 20.
After much uproar over a video clip which showed policeman tromping a half-dead body of a Bhajanpur youth, the state cabinet decided to set up judicial probe on 7th June 2011 and the formal notification was issued on 22nd June 2011.