SOUTH ASIA - House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats

2216vember, Thokchom remained in the central Imphal jail, facing charges under theNational Security Act (NSA).Since 1980 clashes between police members and Naxalite Maoist Revolutionariesof the Peoples’ War Group (PWG) have occurred in northwestern Andhra Pradesh.During the late 1990’s, hundreds of policemen and suspected Naxalites were killed,according to press reports and human rights organizations. According to police, 101PWG Naxalites were killed in armed ‘‘encounters’’ during the first 8 months of theyear. Twenty years of guerrilla-style conflict have led to serious human rightsabuses committed by both sides. Human rights groups allege that ‘‘encounters’’ oftenare faked by the police to cover up the torture and subsequent killing of Naxalitesuspects, sympathizers, or informers. According to police, the PWG killed 31 policeofficers and 80 civilians, including the former home minister of the state, from January1 to December 14. In PWG-dominated areas, villagers complain of regular harassmentand arbitrary detention by police (see Section 1.d.). Police officials rarely,if ever, are held accountable for human rights abuses.The state government offers a financial package to surrendered PWG militants,a program that has prompted hundreds of Naxalites to leave the movement in recentyears. According to human rights activists and journalists, a few surrenderedmilitants have been allowed to retain their weapons and now are working for thepolice as anti-PWG hitmen, residing in police camps and barracks. On November23, four assailants killed human rights lawyer and former PWG militantPurusuotham in Hyderabad. Police arrested four suspects a few days later, two ofwhom were identified as ex-PWG militants. The two persons confessed to the killingat a press conference that was quickly organized by the police. Police attributed thekilling to feuds dating back to the victim’s time spent in the PWG.An ‘‘encounter’’ death occurred in Tamil Nadu on January 10, when police shotand killed a Naxalite, Ravindran, in Dharmapuri district. Police claimed that theyopened fire after Ravindran and three other Naxalites ambushed a police patrol. Afactfinding team of human rights NGO’s, citing inconsistencies in the police reportsand the testimony of another Naxalite who was taken into custody during the sameincident, alleged that Ravindran was arrested on January 7, tortured, and later executed(see Section 1.c.). On July 20, Andhra Pradesh police killed seven Naxalitesin Karimnagar district. According to police, the Naxalites began firing at police officerswho were surrounding a safehouse used by the extremists, and the seven werekilled in the ensuing return of fire by police. However, human rights NGO’s allegethat police deliberately set fire to the house before the outbreak of gunfire and thenfired bullets into the structure for several hours, killing the Naxalites. On October30, police surprised an armed group of seven female Naxalites in Gadampalli, AndhraPradesh. Police opened fire while the women were bathing in a stream, killingall seven. No policemen were injured or killed in the encounter. On November 2,police officers killed Jadhav Subash, a former Naxalite, in Dantepalli village, AndhraPradesh. According to human rights lawyers who interviewed village eyewitnesses,a squad of policemen dragged Subash from a village tea shop and thenshot and killed him.As evidence that ‘‘encounters’’ often are faked by police, human rights groups citethe refusal of police officials to turn over the bodies of suspects killed in ‘‘encounters.’’The bodies often are cremated before families can view them. The NHRC isinvestigating about 285 reported cases of socalled ‘‘fake encounter deaths’’ allegedlycommitted by the Andhra Pradesh police in connection with anti-Naxalite operations.In its 1996–97 report, the NHRC stated that the evidence on record did notreveal any prior police attempt to arrest the persons before they were killed. Thereport observed that in none of these encounters did police personnel receive anyinjury. The Commission further observed that ‘‘no attempt whatsoever’’ was madeto ascertain the identity of the police officers who fired the weapons, and that noattempt was made to investigate the circumstances under which the police openedfire. ‘‘As this appeared to be the pattern of the procedure followed by the police,’’the report concluded, ‘‘the Commission felt it necessary to conclude that the procedurefollowed by them was opposed to law.’’ According to the Andhra Pradesh CivilLiberties Committee, the NHRC has evidence of police culpability in several casesof ‘‘encounter deaths’’ involving suspected Naxalites. However, such cases have notbeen adjudicated in the courts or otherwise have not been acted on by the state government.For example, of six cases referred by the Andhra Pradesh Civil LibertiesCommittee to the NHRC in 1994, evidence of police culpability was found in five.In 1994 the NHRC directed the state government to investigate the cases; however,the state never has taken any action. The state government’s failure to act expeditiouslyin these cases has discouraged local human rights groups from filing additional‘‘encounter death’’ cases with the NHRC.VerDate 11-MAY-2000 13:46 Sep 20, 2001 Jkt 071555 PO 00000 Frm 00060 Fmt 6601 Sfmt 6621 F:\WORK\COUNTRYR\S71555\71555.035 HINTREL1 PsN: HINTREL1