Activists demand FIR against policemen involved in alleged Maoist ‘fake encounter’

Civil society members of a government-appointed committee to facilitate the surrender and rehabilitation of Maoists in Karnataka will visit the site of the extrajudicial killing of Maoist Vikram Gowda and talk to local residents. The move comes amid growing demands from civil society members for an inquiry into Vikram’s extrajudicial killing earlier this week and to book the Anti-Naxal Force (ANF) police officials involved in accordance with the law.

Writer Banjagere Jayaprakash, one of the three civil society members of the committee, told TNM that they will visit Peetebailu village in Hebri taluk, Udupi district on Friday and talk to local residents. The other members of the committee, which is headed by the chief secretary, include senior police officers and other senior government officials.

Vikram, who belonged to the Gowdalu tribe, went underground two decades ago due to alleged police harassment and torture when protests against eviction from forests in the Malnad region of the Western Ghats were at their height. He was an activist for several years before becoming a Maoist.

The ANF killed Vikram Gowda late on Monday, November 18, in Peetebailu. The police claimed that they went to the village after receiving a tip-off that Naxals might visit three houses to collect rations. Police said they saw Vikram and a few others entering the area and though police asked them to surrender, they fired, forcing the ANF to retaliate.

Jayaprakash condemned the killing of Vikram and said that based on current information, the police’s claims are suspect. “Police said the Naxals fired at them, following which the ANF retaliated. They recovered one bullet from the spot but there is not enough evidence that the Maoists fired weapons. Apparently the police shooting was unprovoked and what happened was a murder. If we find anything wrong after talking to the locals, we will write to the chief secretary,” he said.

He will be joined by the two other civil society members of the committee, former journalist Parvatheesha and lawyer KP Sripal.

Jayaprakash said that when Maoists were seen in the region, the police should have asked the committee to intervene. “Should the Pettebailu Maoists surrender or reorganize their movement? We don’t know. But when the police came to know that they were seen in that village, they should have brought us (civil society members) inside. For over a decade, there has been virtually no news of illegal activities going on in those forests. We should have been given a chance to convince them to lay down their arms and join the mainstream. Instead, combing operations have begun.”

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Home Minister G Parameshwara defended the extrajudicial killing, saying it was necessary to curb the Maoist movement.

Parameshwara’s statement that the Maoists would have killed the police had the ANF not opened fire added credence to critics that the police had committed an extrajudicial killing. A day later, Parameshwara doubled down and said the killing of Vikram Gowda was “not a fake encounter”.

Jayaprakash said the Maoists should have been booked under the law. “They should have been arrested for illegal possession of weapons according to the law. What they are doing is illegal, but the police should follow the law. This is not a war-like situation that requires such extreme action by the police. They may be extremists and we may not agree with their ideology or methods, but actions should be taken in a lawful manner. The police should not decide who is a criminal. That is a matter for the courts. No one should be killed, be it police or Maoists,” he added.

He said that the National Commission for Human Rights in cases of extrajudicial crimes must be pursued. “A case must be filed against all police officials involved in the crime. The case must also be investigated by a retired judge.”

The Karnataka unit of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties has also demanded that the police be threatened for the extrajudicial killing. In a statement issued on Wednesday, November 20, the PUCL condemned what it called the “killing” of Vikram Gowda at the hands of the ANF.

Noting that the police had “strangely” filed an FIR against Vikram, the PUCL said, “The Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita (BNS) do not recognize any exemption from the crime law under the title of encounter. The legal exception to murder is self-defense. However, the plea of ​​self-defense must be taken at the time of trial and it is for the judicial process to determine whether the act of murder is entitled to be excused on the ground that it was committed as an act of itself. -defense.”

The statement said the “unambiguous” legal position in both the IPC and the NBS is that the killing of Vikram Gowda “should be treated as murder and an FIR should be registered against all police officers who were involved in the murder”.

In the case of PUCL vs State of Maharashtra, the Supreme Court said that whenever a specific complaint alleging criminal acts by the police, which would make a case of cognizable homicide, an FIR must be registered and the case investigated by an investigating agency specialized. , said PUCL.

Journalist Naveen Soorinje raised questions about the police’s claims. “The police had arrested two people on suspicion of being Naxals in Dharmasthala (Dakshina Kannada district) a few days before the encounter. Who were they? Were they brought before a magistrate? The police must be held accountable for why they killed a man.”

Talking to the media, he recalled that ANF had made similar claims in October 2011 when he was a district reporter in Dakshina Kannada. “The ANF claimed that the Maoists opened fire on the police after a policeman named Mahadev Mane was shot dead on October 8, 2011 during combing operations in Savanalu village of Belthangady taluk.

“My sources told me that a police official died during combing operations. At the time, the police had claimed to have encountered Maoists who opened fire killing Mane and that the ANF had retaliated. A few months later, one discovered that Mane had been killed by an ANF bullet. Back then, in the FIR, Vikram Gowda and other Naxals had been named as the killers of Mahadev Mane,” Naveen said.

Two former Maoists, Noor Shridhar and Sirimane Nagaraj, held a press conference in Bengaluru on November 21 questioning the police claims. They called the encounter “fake” and demanded that an FIR be filed against the policemen involved and also a judicial inquiry.

Noor Shridhar and Sirimane Nagaraj had surrendered about a decade ago through the government-appointed committee that included slain journalist Gauri Lankesh. The committee facilitated the surrender and rehabilitation of several Maoists at that time.

Noor Shridhar also asked the Maoists to rethink their ways and consider giving up violence.