The two alleged "encounters" in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, in which 25 people were killed on the same day triggering a widespread protest across the country, came in for a close scrutiny of the National Human Rights Commission at its camp sitting in Hyderabad on Thursday. While hearing the case of the killing of five undertrials by the Telangana State Police at Aler in Nalgonda district on April 7, NHRC chairman Justice KG Balakrishnan issued orders that the report of magisterial enquiry into the incident should be submitted to the Commission.
Turning the heat on the Andhra Pradesh Government, the NHRC decided to visit the spot in Seshachalam forest of Chittoor district where 20 people were shot dead by the police and came out strongly in favour a judicial enquiry in to the incident. The Commission asked why the State Government did not order a judicial enquiry. The AP Government officials informed the Commission that the matter was pending before the High Court.
It was the second day of the three-day camp of NHRC at Marri Channa Reddy Institute of Human Resources Development in Hyderabad on Thursday. While the Andhra Pradesh Government and the police said that the 20 red sanders smugglers were killed after they attacked the policemen and the police opened fire in self-defence, several human rights' organisations and the family members of the deceased said that those killed were labourers from Tamil Nadu and the AP police killed them after taking them into custody.
Representing the Andhra Pradesh Government, Additional Director General of Police (legal Affairs) Vinay Ranjan submitted a report to the Commission. But, the NHRC directed him to come back with more details, including the names of the policemen involved in the incident, calls made from the cell phones of the policemen involved in the incident and calls which went through the cell tower nearest to the scene of the incident.
The NHRC, which had received several representations from the families of the five slain undertrial prisoners and Muslim organisations, recorded the statement of the Inspector General of Telangana Police Navin Chand. While the police maintained that the five undertrials including a suspected terror operative Viqaruddin Ahmad were killed in "exchange of fire with police" when they tried to escape after snatching a gun from the policemen, lawyer and families of the undertrials said it was a case of cold-blooded murder by the police.
Commission members wanted to know from the IG why the five undertrials were being brought handcuffed and chained from Warangal Central Prison to Hyderabad and why they were kept in Warangal jail when their case was being tried in a Hyderabad court. Navin Chand told the NHRC that the jails in Hyderabad did not have suitable barracks for the accused of terror cases and they were being lodged in Warangal jail as it had the high security barracks. He also told the NHRC that just a few days before the "encounter" of the undertrials, terrorists had attacked and killed four policemen in the State.
The families of the undertrials alleged that the police had deliberately killed them to avenge the death of four policemen in the attack by two terrorists. Earlier, a delegation of United Muslim Action committee headed by Moulana Abdul Raheem Qureshi and widow of one of the slain undertrial Mohammed Haneef submitted two separate representations to the NHRC chairman Justice Balakrishnan seeking an independent probe into the killing of five.
The delegation, which included MIM legislator Ahmad Balala, told the Commission about the circumstances in which the five undertrials were shot dead by the police. It pointed out that all the five were handcuffed and chained to their seats in the minivan of the police at the time of the incident making it impossible for anyone of them to snatch the weapons or escape. "Facts will come to light only if an independent probe was conducted either by the CBI or a sitting High Court judge", Qureshi said. He demanded that a case of murder should be booked against the 17 policemen involved in the incident.
Making a similar allegation of fake encounter, Ishrat Bano, the widow of Haneef, demanded an independent probe. She also showed the photos of the scene of the incident and the dead bodies with hand cuffs and chains. Justice Balakrishnan said that the Commission has already issued suo moto notice to the State Government and the Commission was going through the reports of forensic experts and other evidences. It has also sought the views of the experts and the Commission will take a decision once it receives the reports from them.