Police perform last rites of Nambala Keshava Rao and other deceased Maoists in Narayanpur grossly abusing basic ethics of human rights or dignity-Harsh Thakor
The last rites of Nambala Keshava Rao alias Basavaraju and seven other Maoist cadres who were among the 27 killed in Abujhmad area in a fierce encounter with security forces on May 21 were performed in the state's Narayanpur district on Monday.
The funerals were held in Chhattisgarh despite the family members of five dreaded Maoists, two from Andhra Pradesh and three from Telangana, arrived in the district demanding the bodies of the deceased be handed over to them.
Obeying the directives of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, two petitioners, one of them claiming to be relatives of Basavaraju approached the Narayanpur police seeking custody of the bodies after the completion of the post-mortem.
However, the Chhattisgarh police refused to hand over the bodies to the petitioners and instead cremated them amid tight security, citing that the claimed relatives could not provide any valid and legal document in support of their claims to take the dead bodies to their respective states.
It was the most gruesome violation or mortal blow to human rights ethics and stripping of basic dignity, showcasing proto-fascism.
Maoist cadre executed
Among those who were killed along with com. Basavaraj, are Bhoomika, Sangeeta, Rakesh. They are from Telangana. Bhoomika was a post graduate student (Political Science) in Osmania University. She participated in the Telangana movement very actively and was there in the forefront of the movement. (Photo given below)
Lalita @ Sangeeta worked in Kula Nirmoolana Porata Samithi (KNPS) (Organisation for Caste Annihilation) for a long time and was EC member of the Hyderabad committee of that organisation. Realising that Caste annihilation is not possible without radical change in the system she joined Maoist party some time in 2004 or 2005.
Official Police Statement
In an official
press statement, the Bastar police said, “Out of 27 bodies
recovered from the Kudmel-Kalhaja-Jatloor encounter, 20 have been
handed over to the family members after verifying their claims.”
“In the press note released by CPI Maoist with regard to the Abhujmad encounter, they have admitted that 28 cadres, including their General Secretary Basavaraju, died in the exchange of fire. In the press release, the illegal and banned Maoist outfit was also trying to instigate their supporters to organise rallies and meetings throughout the country to glorify the death of their cruel and dreadful leadership, who were responsible for the death of thousands and thousands of innocent citizens,tribals, women, children an
Revelations of Human Rights Leader Bela Bhatia
Activist Bela Bhatia, who was in Narayanpur, said that the police had performed the last rites of Basavaraju and others forcibly., infringing any ethical practices with regards to human dignity. “I know that in such circumstances there are several judgments in which it has been said that the dead body has dignity, and family members do have a right to perform the last rites. This is in Article 21 of our Constitution and many international laws,”
Despite the High Court allowing the petitioners to approach the police in Chhattisgarh to seek custody of the bodies, the authorities denied the families their right to perform the last rites according to their cultural traditions," Bhatia said. "The police conducted the cremations by force, without the consent of the families," she affirmed.
"Contrary to the police press release legal claimants of all five deceased Maoists from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh were present in Narayanpur and have provided relevant identity documents like Aadhar cards. N. Ramprasad, younger brother of Basava Raju arrived with two first cousins and one distant relative yesterday morning. Like others, they also submitted their identity documents as well as a letter that had been submitted to the station house officer which has a signature and seal. In addition, they also showed a copy of the AP High Court order regarding the handing over of the dead bodies yesterday as well as today. It is a shame that Bastar police is resorting to plain lies to hide the fact that they have wilfully cremated the bodies in a jungle when less than three km, at the police station, police personnel were taking down details from all the relatives supposedly for 'supurdnama'. This is what is called foul play."
According to a police officer, “Five groups of claimants (including for Basavaraju) reached Narayanpur but couldn’t produce valid and satisfactory documents to prove their relationship to the deceased. They also couldn’t provide valid and legal documents in support of their claim to take the bodies to Andhra Pradesh/Telangana. The state extended all basic and humanitarian courtesy and followed due legal procedure in cremating the unclaimed bodies.”
According to ta police officer, this was part of a broader conspiracy orchestrated by Maoists and their supporters to stage an elaborate funeral for their slain leader and cadres. "The police and intelligence agencies acted promptly and lawfully to prevent such glorification, which could have furthered their propaganda," he said.
The incident has showcased the contradiction between state security concerns and the rights of families in conflict zones.
Families of Maoist Leader approaching high court
The families of Basavaraju, and Sajja Venkata Nageswara Rao, another Maoist leader who was killed in the Abujhmad encounter, had approached the Andhra Pradesh High Court last week, seeking a direction to hand over the dead bodies to them. During the proceedings, the Advocate General of Chhattisgarh had vowed that after the conclusion of the post-mortem, they would be handed over to the relatives. The court had issued orders to them to approach the Chhattisgarh Police.
A total of five groups of claimants, including two groups of petitioners in the Andhra Pradesh High Court, reached Narayanpur but could not produce valid and satisfactory documents to prove their relationship to the deceased cadres, a police officer said.
Once the police proclaimed that there were no legal claimants despite family members coming forward and even camping in Narayanpur, Inspector General of Police (Bastar Range) P. Sundarraj said that the “individuals who had contacted the police” did produce their own identification documents, but could not prove any claim of a relationship with the deceased. “Even a certificate from the Sarpanch of the village concerned could have sufficed but they did not have the same,” Mr. Sundarraj said.
Basavaraju’s nephew Nabla Janardhan Rao, however, told the media, “I went to the police on Sunday. They said nothing… just paperwork was going on. In the evening, they took my details and left. On Monday morning, I went to the hospital and then to the SP’s office. At 1 pm, they asked me for my Aadhaar card. Then they said a foul stench was emanating from the body and that we couldn’t take it. I asked to see the body, but they did not allow it.”
The police did not say anything until yesterday. Yesterday evening, they wrote down our name and left. There was no one at the hospital in the morning. We went to the SP’s [Superintendent of Police] office in the morning. After this, at 1 p.m., a person came to us and asked us to follow him. We followed him and then he wrote down our Aadhar card number. After this, he said that we could not take the dead body away, and the last rites would have to be performed here [in Narayanpur] only. We were not allowed to see the dead body. If we had seen that the condition of the dead body was bad, then we would not have taken it and would have asked them to perform the last rites. What kind of a system is this?” Mr. Nabla Janardan Rao said.
Civil Liberties Activists Protesting
The civil
liberties committee leaders V Chittibabu and Ch Chandrasekhar had
written to AP chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu and home minister
Anitha on Sunday, May 25, alleging that Srikakulam district SP
Maheshwar Reddy were blocking the bringing back the body of slain
top Maoist Nambala Keshav Rao to his native village.
They stated that Keshav Rao’s brother had gone to Chhattisgarh to bring back the former’s body, but the SP asked him to return, and confined the family members to house-arrest. It was only after the relatives of Keshav Rao approached the court, that the SP began pressurising on them to perform the last rites in Chhattisgarh itself.
info by Harsh Thakor
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