Like Mamata Banerjee,top cop too described cartoon row as ‘decomposed’ in report

During his deposition before the rights panel on July 5,the chief of Kolkata Police was asked to explain what exactly did he want to “mean” by using the word “decomposed” for the cartoon. As expected,he had no explanation to offer.

The panel’s recommendation reads: “The report which was submitted to this Commission by the Commissioner of Police had a forwarding report by the Commissioner of Police himself. In the said forwarding report,the Commissioner has referred to expressions like “superimposed” “decomposed” and “criminal intent” with reference to the subject cartoon but in his deposition before the Commission he could not explain what it meant by “decomposed” cartoon or cartoon with “criminal intent”.

The WBHRC,which probed the controversial cartoon episode following allegations that the professor and his neighbour Subrata Sengupta were harassed by the police,had asked Pachnanda to submit a report on the arrests of the duo.

Pachnanda and other officers of Kolkata Police were also summoned by the panel. In its report,WBHRC stated Kolkata Police Commissioner “deposed that he saw the cartoon and according to him the cartoon showed the Chief Minister in a derogatory manner”. Pachnanda also told the panel that according to him the additional officer-in-charge of Purba Jadavpur police station Milan Kumar Das and his subordinate Sub-Inspector Sanjoy Biswas had “acted according to the law”.

Later,the WBHRC,recommended compensation of Rs 50,000 each for the professor and Sengupta and departmental action against the two officers — Milan Kumar Das and Sanjoy Biswas — for arresting the professor and his neighbour on April 12.