KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Tuesday directed the state government not to cremate the bodies of Karthi and Manivasakam, the two Maoists who were allegedly killed in an encounter at Attappadi forest area in Palakkad district. The court orally observed that the government should clear the doubts regarding the incident.
Justice R Narayana Pisharadi ordered that the bodies should be preserved until further orders and posted the case on Friday.
The court passed the order on a petition filed by M Murukesan and Lakshmi, relatives of the Maoists seeking to quash the Palakkad Sessions Judge's order allowing the police to cremate the bodies of the two Maoists. The petitioners alleged that the Sessions Court issued the order without examining the Postmortem report. It's a custodial murder, not an encounter killing. Hence, a fair investigation is needed. The police violated the Supreme Court guidelines regarding encounter killings, the petitioners said.
The court also directed the state government to produce all the records relating to the case as well as the postmortem report. The bodies should be kept intact without being decomposed, held the court.
Senior Government Pleader Suman Chakravarthy submitted that the police had no objection to preserving the bodies for some more days. The bodies have been kept in the freezer for the past five days. However, there was every likelihood of the bodies getting decomposed. He also submitted that the police complied with all procedures in the matter. There was no violation of Supreme Court guidelines on encounter killings.
The petitioners also sought a directive to register an FIR against the police officers who were responsible for the killings. The petitioners submitted that if the bodies are cremated, it will deny the chances for re-postmortem.