NEW DELHI: Under criticism for not even acknowledging that the killing of its personnel by Naxalites is a human rights violation, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) on Friday said its statement was "misinterpreted" and blamed its detractors for painting the force in a "bad light."
However, although the paramilitary force said its statement was misinterpreted, the clarification issued Friday was silent on the question of human rights violation, the very question that triggered the controversy.
A Right to Information (RI) petition filed by human rights activist Venkatesh Nayak had asked he CRPF whether the killing of its soldiers by Naxalites constituted a human rights violation but the force responded, saying there was "no violations of human rights" in the matter.
The force is exempted from making disclosures under the RTI Act, but the second proviso of Section 24(1) of the Act allows disclosure of the information sought if it pertains to allegations of human rights violations and corruption.
"The facts of the case [also] do not attract allegations of corruption. Hence, this department is not liable to provide any information in this regard," the CRPF response had said.
The CRPF told Venkatesh Nayak that the enquiry report into the Sukma massacre of 25 CRPF personnel by Naxalites contained various security and tactics-related issues, which have to be kept out of the purview of RTI Act on grounds that it may adversely affect the organisation's strategic response.