The Kerala Police have sought to defend the killing of four Maoists in the Manjakkatti forests in Palakkad early this week by displaying the weapons seized from them.
These include an AK 47 assault rifle, two Lee Enfield .303 rifles and scores of rounds of 7.65 mm self-loading rifle ammunition.
The police claim to have retrieved preserved game meat, ostensibly that of sambar, and laptop computers, mobile phones and charging devices from the dead rebels.
On Friday, anonymous persons circulated on social media a video that showed police officers hitting a forest floor to ‘dodge bullets’. The sound of small arms fire and instructions to remain prone could be heard in the background. The police are yet to confirm the authenticity of the video.
DCP’s plea rejected
Meanwhile, Chief Judicial Magistrate in Palakkad Anil T.P. on Friday rejected a petition filed by District Police Chief (DCP) Shiva Vikram seeking orders for a magisterial investigation into the killings. He rejected the petition saying that a magisterial inquiry could not be ordered as per Section 176 (1a) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. There was no scope for such an inquiry as the killings had not taken place in police custody.
Although the Supreme Court has made it mandatory that a magisterial inquiry must be done in the case of any encounter killing by the police, the magistrate observed that “there is nothing stated that it should be an inquiry conducted by a judicial magistrate.”
“The magisterial inquiry contemplated is an inquiry by an executive magistrate, which has to be initiated by the State government,” he said, rejecting the petition.
Manivasakam
They said that Manivasakam, 56, a postgraduate, got radicalised in 1985 by organising farmers in Krishnagiri under the banner of the pro-Maoist Uzhavar Uzhaipali Maamandram.
The Tamil Nadu Police arrested him in a bomb blast case in 2002. He jumped bail in 2013 and has since been a fugitive from the law.
The Kerala Police said he had emerged as leader of the Bhavani Dalam of the Western Ghats Zonal Committee of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) after its chief Kuppu Devaraj died in a police shootout in the Nilambur forests in Malappuram district in November 2016.
About Karthi
They said that Karthi, the slain Maoist who hails from Pudukottai in Tamil Nadu, was accused in at least two cases under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Chennithala’s charge
Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala challenged the government to declassify the magisterial reports regarding the ‘encounter deaths’ of seven Maoists, including two women, since Pinarayi Vijayan assumed power as Chief Minister. He said the body count of Maoists, many of them misguided but idealistic youths, had helped career police officers improve their job profile and attract the Centre’s national security funding. The government had faced widespread scorn on social media for the killings.
Poet K. Satchidanandan observed that the “Left has turned on the Left”. Several writers, thinkers, human rights activists and artists condemned the shootings.
(With inputs from Abdul Latheef Naha in Palakkad)