Statement on recent encounter killings
in Jharkhand
June 14, 2015
Released by Jamia Teachers’
Solidarity Association
Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity
Association demands that the recently issued guidelines by the
Supreme Court on “encounter deaths” be immediately adhered to in
the case of the killings of alleged Maoists at Bhalwahi village in
Palamau district, Jharkhand on Monday night (8 June). As of now, in
accordance with the guidelines of the Supreme Court, a First
Information Report has to be filed, and those police officers
involved in the ‘encounter’ will have to prove that they fired in
self defense in the course of investigation.
While most news reports uncritically
reproduce the police version of the events without any independent
investigation, at least one newspaper quotes local sources as
disputing the police version, citing the fact that the police did not
sustain any injuries, and the bullet injuries on those killed were
fired from a close range. The killing of innocent villagers in the
name of anti-Maoist operations would not unfortunately be
unprecedented. Evidence gathered by the Commission investigating the
killing of 17 villagers in Sarkeguda, Chhattisgarh, which occurred on
28 June 2012 in a joint operation by the CRPF and district police,
suggests that those killed were innocent. More recently, in
Ehadsameta village of Bijapur district, Chhattisgarh, eight villagers
who were killed by the CRPF and state Police in an ‘encounter’
turned out to be innocent villagers, as even admitted by the state.
Additionally, doctors at Daltonganj
Sadar Hospital have refused to conduct post-mortem examination of the
dead bodies of the villagers alleged to be Maoists, without the
presence of forensic experts. In previous ‘encounters’ such as
the one in Sarkeguda and Ehadsameta, the post-mortems have been
conducted improperly in open spaces, in the presence of policemen.
This is a clear indicator of police
pressure and interference in the due process. JTSA demands that the
post-mortem in the present case of Bhalwahi village be conducted as
per established guidelines, and that it be video recorded.
Children Gunned Down
Like the ‘encounter’ at Sarkeguda
three years ago, this encounter at Bhalwahi village, too has resulted
in the casualties of minors. And in a replay of the 2012 encounter,
the security forces have termed these children as part of a Maoist
squad. In the Sarkeguda encounter, it turned out that the children
gunned down by the CRPF were attending a meeting to discuss sowing of
seeds in their village. There is nothing to suggest that the four
children killed on Monday night were combatants. In fact the police
version of the shooting – that two jeeps being used by the Maoists
were surrounded, while one jeep fled, occupants of the other alighted
and opened fire on the police – strains one’s credulity.
Moreover, the inability of the police to identify most of those
killed; the miraculous absence of any injuries sustained by the
police calls the entire encounter into doubt. In this light, a
serious, fair enquiry into the killing of children becomes
imperative.
International jurisprudence on children
in armed conflict has been continuously evolving in order to protect
children from violence. The Jharkhand DGP D.K. Pandey’s comment, in
response to the killing of minors, that the “bullet does not
differentiate” displays a remarkable lack of training in any
humanitarian law, or indeed of the law of the land. No reason except
the impending threat to life can justify the use of lethal force by
the police.
As citizens, we demand that the Supreme
Court guidelines in encounter killings be followed. No amount of
jingoism about violence of ‘non-state actors’ can or should
justify the cynical taking of lives of children by the state
agencies.
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