‘Encounter killings will only advance naxal cause’
Friday, July 13, 2007
Staff Reporter
| Congress members come out against police action |
Speaker disallows adjournment motion
Roshan Baig tells Government to handle naxalites tactfully
Bangalore: K.R. Ramesh Kumar and R. Roshan Baig (Congress) on Wednesday cautioned the Government in the Legislative Assembly that the "encounter" killing of "naxalite", instead of bringing them to justice, would generate sympathy for the movement and it would become difficult for it to control the menace.
They were speaking on the suo motu statement by Home Minister M.P. Prakash on the encounter at Menasinahadya in Chikmagalur district in which five "naxals" were gunned down.
Earlier, the Speaker Krishna disallowed an adjournment motion moved by the Leader of Opposition N. Dharam Singh.
While Mr. Ramesh Kumar termed it a serious violation of human rights, Mr. Baig advised the Government to handle the naxalites tactfully.
He warned that the day was not far off when legislators and former Ministers would find it difficult to freely walk in their own areas.
Mr. Baig reminded the House of how in some naxal-dominated districts of Andhra Pradesh politicians and former bureaucrats were afraid of moving about without security.
Mr. Ramesh Kumar was surprised how all the five persons holed up in the mud-house were killed while only a constable was injured, if the retaliation by the "naxals" was of a high scale.
Referring to Mr. Prakash's statement, Mr. Ramesh Kumar said that the offences allegedly committed by Gautham, a member of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and Paramesh for which they were booked under some sections of the IPC would not attract even life imprisonment. But, the police eliminated all the five, instead of taking them into custody and bringing them to justice.
He suspected that the police were in a hurry and overwhelmed by the news that the "naxals" were holed up in a house.
They were killed in a cold-blooded manner, reminiscent of the anti-Veerappan operations days, he said.
Karnataka, he said, was marching towards a dangerous situation.
How could the police defend the killing of Subramanya, Rame Gowda and his wife Kaveri, against whom there was no charges?
Mr. Baig said that naxalites were not anti-nationals. He blamed some IPS officers for the reckless operations against the naxalites.
The Minister said the "mahajar," post-mortem and investigation into the case were conducted in the presence of a judicial officer.
Two "naxals" were absconding and efforts were on to arre
st them. He told Mr. Baig that one of Gautham's brothers, who was undergoing police training at Khanapur, was present when the "naxal" was cremated. Vatal Nagaraj (Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha) also spoke.
Labels: Karnataka
posted by Resistance 7/13/2007 01:01:00 AM,
