Kalimpong, May 22,TT: The supporters of Chattrey Subba and five other accused in the case relating to the abortive attempt on the life of GNLF president are hoping Mamata Banerjee’s decision to form a committee to review the release of political prisoners would eventually ensure their freedom after spending more than 10 years in jail.
The CPRM, which has been campaigning for the release of all the accused, said it welcomed the chief minister’s decision to set up the review committee and hoped that they would be set free at the earliest.
“The new government should release them without wasting a day. Chattrey and the others are victims of political conspiracy of the erstwhile Left Front government and the GNLF,” said Gobind Chhetri, the CPRM spokesperson.
The 62-year-old Subba has been languishing in prison since April 20, 2001 after he was arrested from Nepal for allegedly masterminding the attack on GNLF chief Subash Ghisingh near Kurseong on February 10 the same year. Although Ghisingh had escaped with injuries, a policeman had died in the incident when the GNLF chief’s convoy was ambushed by gunmen on Pankhabari Road, a few kilometres from Kurseong.
The other accused still languishing in jail are Saran Dewan, Kumar Chettri, Shyam Bahadur Karki, Bijay Chettri and Gunjay Lama.
The names of all the six will figure in the list of political prisoners being prepared by the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR). “Even after 10 years, Subba’s trial remains incomplete. He being denied a bail in all these years goes against the principle of natural rights,” said an APDR source.
Subba was the chief of the Gorkha Volunteers’ Cell, the militant wing of the GNLF, during the Gorkhaland agitation of the 1980s. He formed the Gorkha Liberation Organisation after quitting the GNLF. He fell out with Ghisingh over the GNLF’s decision to accept the DGHC, instead of Gorkhaland.
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