New Delhi: The government Tuesday said that 113 Left Wing Extremists (LWEs) have been killed this year during gun fights with the security forces. Besides, 25 security personnel were also martyred and while 93 injured this year.
In a written reply in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said: “Seven LWEs, including Milind Teltumbde, Member, Central Committee of CPI (Maoist), were killed in an exchange of fire with the police in Gadchiroli district, Maharashtra, November 13. Later, the police recovered 29 weapons, including six AK-47 Rifles, one underbarrel grenade launcher, nine SLRs, one INSAS rifle and three .303 Rifle.”
The minister also said that no case of fake encounters in the LWE affected states has been reported.
“A strong constitutional and legal mechanism exists, which include National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and State Human Rights Commission (SHRC), to prevent and deal with the case of fake encounters.
“The NHRC has issued guidelines for conducting magisterial enquiries in case of death of a person in police action,” Rai said.
He further said that the Supreme Court has also laid down a detailed procedure to be followed in the investigation of a case of death of a person during police encounter for thorough, effective and independent investigation.
As per the minister’s reply, among 25 security personnel martyred this year, 24 were in Chhattisgarh and one in Jharkhand.
Among the 113 LWEs killed, maximum 49 were killed in Maharashtra followed by Chhattisgarh (37).
Six LWEs each were killed in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Odisha.
As per the ministry’s reply, in 2016 about 221 LWEs killed, 130 in 2017, 225 in 2018, 143 in 2019 and 100 in 2020.
About 25 security force personnel were martyred in 2016, 19 in 2017, 15 in 2018, eight in 2019 and 27 in 2020.
