HC seeks Kalinga Nagar firing report by Dec 13

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court Wednesday directed the state government to submit a report prepared by a judicial commission in connection with chopping off of palms of five tribals who died in a police firing at Kalinga Nagar in Jajpur district by January 13.
In deference to an earlier order, the government informed the HC the probe report submitted by the judicial panel is yet to be tabled in the Assembly. Since there is possibility of disclosure of the report, it urged the court to grant more time to submit the probe report. Justice Sanjay Kumar Mishra accepted the government’s plea and asked it to submit the report by December 13.
As many as 13 people had died in police firing at Kalinga Nagar while protesting over land acquisition issues January 2, 2006. Doctors at district headquarters hospital (DHH) in Jajpur had conducted post-mortem on the bodies of six tribals. They had chopped off the palms of five bodies and preserved them for future identification in the absence of proper facility at the hospital mortuary. The incident had triggered sharp reaction and anger from several quarters. The state government had constituted a judicial commission to probe the police firing. It had suspended three doctors of Jajpur DHH after receiving an adverse report against them from the Orissa Human Rights Commission (OHRC). The rights body, in its report, claimed that the doctors concerned had violated their service rules while chopping the palms.
The three doctors had challenged the OHRC report in the HC. Subsequently, the court had directed that state government not to take any stern action against the doctors concerned. The state government had also withdrawn the suspension order as per the HC direction. However, the petitioners had urged the HC to quash the OHRC report on the issue.

PNN