ADILABAD:Two protest petitions filed in connection with the encounter killings of Maoist leader C Raj Kumar alias Azad and journalist Hemachandra Pandey were dismissed by a local court here Tuesday.
Judicial First Class Magistrate Mary Sara Danamma did not take cognizance of the pleas filed by K Padma, wife of Azad, and Babita, the slain journalist’s wife. Speaking to the media, Padma said they would move the high court . Counsel for the petitioners and AP Civil Liberties Committee vice-president D Suresh Kumar said, “The Judicial First Class Magistrate’s court has dismissed the objection petitions almost a year and a half after they were filed stating they lacked merit. It’s not correct.”
The encounter in question took place on July 2, 2010 in the Sarkapally forest area following which social activist Agnivesh and others filed a petition in Supreme Court seeking an inquiry. The court ordered a CBI probe. However, the CBI, in its report in 2012, concluded that the encounter was genuine and gave a clean chit to the AP police.
But the petitioners raised objections over the report prompting the apex court to direct them to file their objections in the lower court.
Padma and Babita accordingly filed the protest petitions in the Judicial First Class Magistrate’s court in Adilabad in November, 2013.