HYDERABAD:A division bench of the Hyderabad High Court on Friday directed the Telangana government to conduct post-mortem of the Maoists, who were brought to Bhadrachalam area hospital, by a team of forensic experts and to video-record the same and handover the bodies to their family or relatives.
The bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice K Vijaya Lakshmi was passing this order in a PIL moved in the form of lunch motion by Prof Gaddam Laxman, president of the Civil Liberties Committee of the state, seeking to declare the action of the Telangana police in killing 10 persons belonging to the CPI-M ( Maoists) in the early hours of Friday at Thondapal forest area in Cherla mandal on Telangana-Chhattisgarh border, as illegal and unconstitutional. The petitioner sought court directions to the authorities to register a criminal case under Section 302 IPC and to entrust the case to CBI or court-monitored SIT probe.
When the petitioner’s counsel V Raghunath was prepared to make his submissions, Telangana additional advocate general J Ramachandra Rao, who was appearing for the police, intervened and told the court that the place of encounter comes under the jurisdiction of the neighbouring Chhattisgarh, and hence the Hyderabad High Court has no jurisdiction to intervene in the matter. The encounter took place in the area covered by Hosur police station of Bijapur district in Chhattisgarh, he added.
Responding to this, the petitioner’s counsel told the court that the bodies of two persons, that of a Maoist and a police personnel, who were killed in the encounter were brought to Bhadrachalam. The Maoist, whose body was sent to Bhadrachalam area hospital, was identified as Haribhushan belonging to Telangana. He urged the court to issue directions for shifting the bodies either to Osmania hospital in Hyderabad or MGM hospital in Warangal as they have all facilities for conducting the postmortem.
The AAG told the court that Bhadrachalam hospital has got all the facilities to meet the requirement. After hearing both the sides, the bench while passing the above order, made it clear that the court has got jurisdiction to intervene as the bodies were brought to Bhadrachalam which falls under Telangana state. Further, the bench made it clear to the Telangana government to adopt the same procedure if other bodies killed in the encounter were brought to the state.
Cong seeks probe into ‘encounter’
Expressing doubts about the alleged encounter that took place between the police and Maoists in Bijapura district of Chhattisgarh in which at least 10 Maoists were gunned down, the Congress has demandedt a comprehensive probe into the encounter. “We have several doubts about this encounter. Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had, during the statehood movement, claimed that his party would pursue the agenda of Maoists to achieve social justice. But, after coming to power, his government is encouraging the police to kill Maoists,” V Hanumantha Rao said.
Maoists were killed in fake encounter: Varavara Rao
Condemning the alleged encounter killing of 10 Maoists by the Telangana Greyhounds police, revolutionary writer Varavara Rao said that the state police forces detained the Maoists somewhere else and took them to border places of Chattishgarh where the Maoists were tortured and killed in a fake encounter. Recalling the previous encounters that took place at Tekulapalli of Bhadradri district and Adilabad border, Rao alleged that all these encounters were fake and the state government sponsored murders with the assistance of police. The revolutionary writer also demanded that the state government should register murder cases against the police who participated in the alleged encounter under Section 302 of IPC as per Supreme Court and National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) guidelines.
Greyhound who died in attack was from Bidar
Bidar: B Sushil Kumar (33), a Greyhound constable, died during an encounter with Maoists on Friday at Venkatapuram border of Telangana and Chhattisgarh. He was deployed at Chandra Nagar police station. The last rites will be held today (March 3) at Mangalpet Methodist Church graveyard, Sushil’ father Vijaya Bopanpalli said. He was appointed AP police constable in 2004 and was working at
Greyhounds for six years.
High alert sounded in border villages
Bhadrachalam: High alert has been sounded in Telangana- Chattishgarh state border villages following the encounter between Greyhound forces and Maoists in which 10 Maoists including four women were gunned down at Pujarekankere in Bijapur district of Chhattishgarh state on Friday early moning.
Suspecting that Maoists may take revenge for the attack, police forces have intensified combing operation and sealed the entire border area of Telangana and Chhattisgarh. Huge forces of Greyhounds, CRPF and special party forces have been deployed in border areas and carrying out vehicle checking in Maoist affected areas.