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The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) today asked the Andhra Pradesh authorities to conduct a judicial inquiry into the killing of 20 woodcutters in the Seshachalam forest area. These woodcutters were killed in an alleged encounter earlier this month by a special task force created to check red sanders smuggling.
The commission headed by former Chief Justice of Supreme Court, Justice KG Balakrishnan, while holding a hearing on the incident here, questioned as to why the government had so far not ordered a judicial inquiry mandated by the law of criminal procedure code (CrPC), amended in 2005.
The commission refused to accept the reasoning given by the AP police that a judicial inquiry was required only in the case of deaths in custody while in the above incident the woodcutters were killed in police firing opened in self-defence. The legal adviser to the AP police also informed that a magisterial inquiry had been conducted by a revenue official immediately after the incident.
“The state government should have ordered a judicial inquiry considering the sheer magnitude of the incident, leave alone the legal requirements. Moreover, the allegation here was that those killed in the incident were taken into custody prior to the alleged encounter by the task force,” Balakrishnan said while stating that the commission wanted a judicial probe by a first class judicial or a metropolitan magistrate.
Earlier, the commission also expressed displeasure over non-compliance of its April 13 orders regarding submission of report with details of the investigation among other things. To this, chief legal advisor of the state police M Naga Raghu said they were unable to provide these details as the Hyderabad high court, which is hearing a set of petitions filed on the Seshachalam encounter case, had asked the police not to divulge the details to anybody other than the court. Again questioning the stand taken by the police, Balakrishnan said the high court does not at least come in the way of providing the details of the names of those who took part in the alleged encounter, which the police was yet to furnish.
The commission gave two weeks’ time to the police to provide wireless set log details as well as mobile numbers of the officers, details of injuries received by the police involved in the alleged encounter besides complying with the earlier orders. It announced it was sending its own team to visit the encounter spot and other places within a week to submit a report on the incident.
The commission also directed the investigating agency to facilitate the recording of the evidence of the three eyewitnesses, who had already deposed before the NHRC, under Section 146 of CrPC by a magistrate.
Earlier, one, Henri Tiphagne, representing the Peoples Watch organisation, argued before the commission that those killed in the alleged encounter were apprehended and tortured in custody by the task force before it had proceeded to kill them on the orders of the higher ups in the government. “Let the phone records of the officials involved in the incident be furnished before the commission. The truth about who ordered the killings will come out,” he said when reporters questioned as to what proof he had to make allegations against the top leadership of the AP government.
SIT on Seshachalam encounter
Additional director general of police - Legal, Vinay Ranjan Ray, informed the commission that the state government had decided to constitute a special investigative team (SIT) to probe the Seshachalam encounter among other matters.
“The government is already in the process of setting up an SIT to further investigate into the incident. Only the panel of names are to be finalised for the SIT,” he told the commission while seeking two weeks to comply with the directions of the NHRC.
The petitions pertaining to the Seshachalam killings are currently being heard by various courts, including the Supreme Court of India, besides the NHRC.
