Activists slam Bengal CM over pro-Maoist leaders' conviction

Condemning the "unlawful" conviction of pro-Maoist tribal leader Chhatradhar Mahato and five of his peers, rights activists on Wednesday accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of going back on her promise of releasing political prisoners.

Mahato - the convenor of Peoples' Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) - along with five others were on Tuesday sentenced to life imprisonment by a West Bengal court.

Mahato, Sukhsanti Baske, Sambhu Soren and Sagun Murmu were handed down life sentences by the court of Additional Sessions Judge (West Midnapore) Kaveri Bose under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

Raja Sarkhel and Prasun Chatterjee - two other PCAPA members - also got life sentences on charges of sedition. But they were not charged under the UAPA.

A host of civil and human rights activists during the day took a rally in the city condemning the conviction.

"As the then opposition leader, Banerjee had promised to release all political prisoners including Mahato. But after coming to power, she forgot all about it and had him convicted," said rights activist Sujato Bhadra.

Bhadra also claimed the charges against Mahato and others were "concocted and false" and dubbed the conviction as "unlawful and illegal".

Besides demanding release of all political prisoners including Mahato, the activists called for the repeal of the "draconian" UAPA.

"The conviction of Mahato and the others is a betrayal by the Banerjee government which had promised repealing the UAPA. This government got them convicted on charges that were false levelled against them by the (erstwhile) Left Front government," said social activist Bolan Ganguly.

Before his arrest in 2009, Mahato was one of the prominent faces of the Maoist-backed tribal resistance in West Midnapore district's Lalgarh area, about 200 km west of Kolkata, against the then Left Front government.

Lalgarh was on the boil for over two years since November 2, 2008, when a landmine exploded on the route of the convoy of then chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and central ministers Ram Vilas Paswan and Jitin Prasada.

Complaining of police atrocities after the blast, angry tribals egged on by Maoists launched an agitation virtually cutting off the area from the rest of the district.

The agitators torched offices of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, drove away its supporters and forced police to leave, thereby establishing a virtual free zone.

In June 2009, joint forces comprising paramilitary troopers and crack teams of state police reclaimed the areas and conducted intense operations to flush out the Left wing ultras.

There were a spate of arrests while a number of PCAPA and Maoist leaders were killed in shootouts with the security forces.

Mahato also had participated in rallies by the Trinamool chief before her party came to power in 2011.