It is not normal for as many as 20 people to be killed in what is being described as a single encounter. But that’s precisely what happened deep inside the Seshachalam reserve forest when the Red Sanders Anti-Smuggling Task Force (RSASTF) found as many as a hundred smugglers beavering away. From what has been reported at the time of writing, in the wee hours of April 7, the smugglers rained stones at the RSASTF personnel who had come there based on specific intelligence. The RSASTF personnel were forced to fire to defend themselves. Picture the consequent scene: only one rusted axe which had a handle missing found near a dead “smuggler”; many of the logs that had been found lying next to the bodies had markings that looked suspiciously like those found in red sander logs that the government seizes and stores. There is also speculation that in the vicinity of the encounter, there were no traces of red sander trees that could be cut; if the trees had all been cut from the area, what were the smugglers doing there? Neither were there any signs of trees with bullet marks. The post-mortem presents a further clue: many shot at close range at vital organs, some had more than one gunshot wound in the back. Initial reports also suggest that the killing may have occurred elsewhere. Indeed, there is a report that tells of seven being pulled out of a bus before being taken away and shot.
There is predictable uproar in both Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh over the questions that remain unanswered and which abound. Initial reports said there were about 100 tree-fellers/smugglers. Twenty have been killed. Where are the rest? Were they going to physically carry the logs all the way to their destinations? What happened to the vehicles that normally would have carried the felled trees? The commonsensical thing to do will be to have a quick, efficient and impartial enquiry into the episode and set up protocols to ensure that this does not recur. Ideally, the process should take forever. If someone were to throw stones at RSASTF personnel, the sensible thing to do would be to retreat beyond the range of stone-throwing and fire low, if absolutely necessary, with the purpose of wounding or warning, not killing coldly and calculatedly. What would the maximum punishment have been if the smugglers had been caught? Would it take an enquiry to establish that the RSASTF response had been disproportionate? Naturally, innuendoes are swirling around.
Red sander smuggling is apparently prolific in the area, so widely prevalent that I am sure that the Sesachalam Reserve Forest would be by now entirely devoid of red sander trees. Yet, that is not the case. It is being pointed out that the smuggling operations are of such a scale and efficiency that it cannot take place without collusion, support—tactical and of other kinds —and above all active encouragement. This newspaper has pointed out that despite the frequency of arrests and seizures of red sanders, the real kingpins behind the smuggling operations have successfully kept at least a dozen steps ahead of the long and efficient arm of the law. What does that mean? Isn’t it amazing that with so many arrests and middlemen, the main culprits remain elusive? Will these shootings prove to be a deterrent? Your guess is as good as mine. Or even better.
Sudarshan is the author of Anatomy of an Abduction: How the Indian Hostages in Iraq Were Freed
sudarshan@newindianexpress.com