( 1 ) ON 15th of March, 2007 this Court passed the following order :

A. S. T. 205 of 2007

Association for Protection of Democratic Rights

Vs.

The State of West Bengal & Ors.

Mr. Rananeesh Guha Thakurta ,

Mr. Somnath Roychowdhury. . . . for the Petitioners.

In addition to the order passed in this suo motu petition, there shall be a further order in this writ petition in terms of prayer clause 1".

"1) An interim order restraining the Respondent Nos . 2 to 7 preventing the petitioner organizations, other N. G. Os. and voluntary aid organization from reaching Nandigram to provide assistance to injured and deceased villagers''.

We further direct the District Administration to ensure that the unclaimed dead bodies are handed over to the appropriate Authorities and the identified dead bodies are handed over to the lawful claimants after due legal formalities have been concluded, such as post-mortem and inquest report, so that the relatives are able to perform the last rites of the deceased.

IN THE high COURT AT CALCUTTA

Special Jurisdiction (Contempt)

In the matter of : The court on its own Motion

All the newspapers throughout the Nation have today earned as a lead Article - description of the action which has been taken by the West Bengal police against agitating farmers and other villagers in Nandigram village. Prima facie in a wholly indefensible manner innocent people have been shot down by none other than the uniformed police officers. There are at this stage many conflicting versions as to what actually transpired, but one conclusion is echoed by all those who are present-in Court ; the newspapers and the electronic media, that there have been a large number of deaths which are directly attributable to the prolonged gunfire by the police of the State of west Bengal.

It seems as if the Police Department which is under the control of the Home Department is not even aware of the existence of Article 21 of the constitution of India ; let alone the ambit of freedoms guarantees to the citizen of this Country, under this Article. This article specifically guarantees that - "no person shall he deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law. " Oblivious of the aforesaid guarantee, the Police has resorted to gun firing on a large crowd, protesting against the proposal to acquire their land.

Prima facie we are satisfied that this action of the police department is wholly unconstitutional and cannot be justified under any provision of law. There are normal remedies available to the State as also to the owners of the lands for redressed of the grievances with regard to the acquisition of land. Such kind of force cannot be justified except in the cases of armed insurgency or warlike situation. Innocent farmers and villagers can hardly be put into the aforesaid bracket. We take serious note of the observations made by His excellency, the Governor of West Bengal as reported in the newspaper - "hindustan Times", on the front page under the news item headlines - "governor reacts" which is quoted here in below :

"/ am filled with cold horror'

THE NEWS of deaths by police firing in Nandigram this morning has filled me with a sense of cold horror. We will soon know more details of the sequence of events that led to this tragedy. But the point uppermost in my mind is not 'who started it', 'who provoked it' or whether there were agent-provocateur behind it. Investigations will reveal that. The thought in my mind and of all sensitive people now is. Was this spilling of human blood not avoidable ? What is the public purpose served by the use of force that we have witnessed today ?

Force against anti-national elements, terrorists, extremists insurgents, is one thing. The receiving end of the force used today does not belong to that order.

What I advised government over the last two days, as I received inputs of rising tension in Nandig