District judge to probe Gumudumaha killings

BHUBANESWAR: The state government has appointed the district and sessions judge, Kandhamal, as the one-man inquiry commission to probe the killing of five persons in alleged police-Maoists crossfire at Gumudumaha village in Kandhamal district on July 8.
According to a written reply by chief minister Naveen Patnaik in the assembly on Monday, the inquiry commission was appointed on July 22.
The CM said the commission will find out the sequence of events leading to the killings, whether police firing was justified and recommendations to prevent recurrence of such incidents. His reply about the commission has surprised human rights campaigners as the government had not made any announcement about such a commission though it was formed three months ago. "I am surprised why the government was silent," said human rights campaigner Biswapriya Kanungo. The government on August 10 had declined to provide information to an application filed by Kanungo seeking details of the commission and its terms of reference.
Kanungo had sought copy of the government order, approval and note-sheet for constituting the commission besides a list of those killed and injured, copies of the post-mortem reports, government decisions and steps taken so far on the incident and proceedings of a review meeting chaired by chief minister Naveen Patnaik into the killings.
The information cant be supplied as per Section 8 (1) (h) of the RTI Act, 2005, since (disclosure of) the information would impede the process of investigation of the police firing, the public information officer said in a letter issued on August 10.