Bhubaneswar: In the wake of six innocent people losing their lives in an ‘anti-Maoist’ operations in Kandhamal district July 8 night, police claimed Saturday that the civilians were killed in an exchange of fire.
This is not the first time that such cold-blooded murder of innocents by the security forces has happened in the state.
In November last year, such an unfortunate incident had happened where three tribals of Kalahandi, herding goats in a forest, were shot dead by SOG jawans. The cops took them to be Maoists.
In July, 2015, a tribal couple in Kandhamal had been gunned down by security personnel who passed it off as a ‘Maoist encounter’.
In another incident, a Dongria Kondh was allegedly killed in an encounter February 27 this year. The locals alleged that he was not a Maoist but a tribal youth since identified as Manda Kadraka (21) of Dangamati village under Kalyansinghpur police limits in Rayagada district.
Inspector General of Police (southern range) Amitabh Thakur told the media Saturday six persons got killed in an exchange of fire between cops and the Maoists.
The persons, who were in-charge of the operation, including the Kandhamal Superintendent of Police, should be placed under suspension and a judicial inquiry be ordered into the incident, rights activist Pradeep Pradhan told this newspaper.
“There was no exchange of fire between the police and Maoists. Utmost carelessness by the police claimed the lives of six innocent persons,” he said.
Sources said police don’t inform locals about a possible faceoff with Maoists as some informers might let it out. Unconfirmed sources said it was also possible that the cops mistook the villagers as Maoists and opened fire at them.
“Forces were reportedly engaged in exchange of fire from a hillock on the other side of the road. Naxals were at a higher position. This is when nine villagers in an auto-rickshaw came in between. The cops, however, don’t inform the villagers about possible faceoff between them and Maoists as some informers might inform ultras about their movement.
As a result civilians come under the crossfire,” a senior police official said.
Meanwhile, special director (intelligence) Arun Kumar Sarangi told Orissa POST that the police always do their best to avoid civilian casualties.
Condemning the brutalities, assistant professor at Centre for Tribal and Customary Laws in Central University of Jharkhand, Debendra Biswal said, “Due to the callousness of paramilitary forces this incident happened. This is not first time that such violent incidents happened. The forces are moving freely in forest and do whatever they want. Innocent tribal villagers are paying a heavy price for it.”
The special security law in Maoist areas provide extensive power to security forces and exempt them from prosecution in absence of executive sanctions. Therefore, it becomes easier for the protectors of human rights to violate these rights. It raises the issue of incompatibility of law and human rights,” Biswal said.
Although the government and different statutory bodies like human right commission have sought judicial and administrative probes into such incidents, they hardly yield results, he added. PNN
