Kolkata

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Monday said the report of the Justice (retd) Sushanta Chatterjee Commission, set up by the previous TMC government to probe the deaths of 13 people in the 1993 police firing on a Youth Congress rally, would be made public later in the day.

Making the announcement at the start of the Assembly proceedings, Adhikari sought time from the Speaker to present the commission's report a day ahead of the July 21 'Martyrs' Day' rallies to be held by the two rival factions of the Trinamool Congress.

Adhikari said he would also spell out which recommendations of the commission were implemented and which remained unimplemented during the previous TMC government's 15-year tenure.

Addressing the opposition benches, the chief minister said, "You will observe July 21 as Martyrs' Day tomorrow, but your government never made public the report of the commission it had constituted."

The one-member commission was constituted in 2011 by the Mamata Banerjee government to inquire into the police firing on the Youth Congress supporters marching to Writers’ Buildings, then the state secretariat, on July 21, 1993, in which 13 people were killed.

Banerjee, at the time, was the West Bengal Youth Congress president. She quit the Congress to form the Trinamool Congress in 1998.

The commission had examined more than 300 witnesses before submitting its report to the state government in 2024.

According to government sources, the report recommended disciplinary action against several IPS officers who were in service during the then Left Front government.

However, the report was never tabled in the Assembly, and no clarity was provided by the erstwhile TMC dispensation on the implementation of its recommendations.

The rally was led by Banerjee to press for several demands, including the introduction of photo identity cards for voters. Thousands of supporters had marched towards Writers' Buildings when police resorted to baton charge, tear gas and later opened fire to disperse the crowd.

Several senior Left leaders, including former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and veteran CPI (M) leader Biman Bose, had deposed before the commission during the inquiry.

While 13 people were killed in the firing, Banerjee sustained injuries during police action.

Kolkata Police also registered around 400 cases against protesters at five police stations in central Kolkata following the incident.

Sources said the commission recommended compensation of Rs 25 lakh each for the families of those killed and Rs 5 lakh each for those injured.

It allegedly concluded that there was no situation warranting police firing and questioned the circumstances leading to the use of force.

Over the years, the July 21 Martyrs' Day rally in Kolkata has evolved into the TMC's biggest annual political programme, serving as a major display of the party's organisational strength and mass mobilisation capacity.

On Tuesday, both the Mamata Banerjee-led faction of the TMC and the rival group led by Ritabrata Banerjee are scheduled to hold separate 'Martyrs' Day' rallies in central parts of the city to commemorate those killed in the police action.

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The Congress is also scheduled to hold a rally in memory of those killed during the 1993 protest rally not far from the TMC venues.