SOUTH ASIA - House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats

2217The Disturbed Areas Act has been in force in a number of districts in AndhraPradesh for over 3 years. Human rights groups allege that security forces have beenable to operate with virtual impunity in parts of Andhra Pradesh under the act.They further allege that Andhra Pradesh police officers train and provide weaponsto an armed vigilante group known as the ‘‘Green Tigers,’’ whose mission is to combatNaxalite groups in the state. Little is known about the size, composition, or activitiesof this group.Police also used excessive force indiscriminately against demonstrators, killingmany citizens. For example, according to Amnesty International, on January 31, policekilled two ‘‘Dalit’’ (formerly ‘‘untouchable’’) men in Jethuke village, Bhatindadistrict, Punjab, when they opened fire on hundreds of persons demonstrating overhigh bus fares and the detention of four leaders of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (IndianFarmers Union), who were representing villagers in negotiations with the districtadministration regarding the issue (see Section 2.b.). On May 8, in Dibrugarh,Assam, police killed two persons when they opened fire on the funeral processionof a businessman and his son—who allegedly were killed by surrendered ULFA militantsworking at police behest. On May 10, police fired 23 rounds of bullets into amob of Karbi People’s Front (KPF) supporters in Jalpaiguri, West Bengal, killing1 person and injuring 5 others. During the year, a government commission completedits investigation of the drowning deaths of 17 persons in Tirunelveli, TamilNadu. The deaths occurred in July 1999, when thousands of demonstrators ran intoa river to escape police beatings. The demonstrators were demanding governmentintervention in a labor dispute at a local coffee estate and the release of 652 estateworkers imprisoned after a previous demonstration. Human rights groups in TamilNadu criticized the commission’s findings, claiming that the commission exoneratedsenior police officials, and implied that the demonstrators themselves were responsiblefor the drownings. No charges in connection with the drownings had beenbrought against any police official by year’s end.On April 4, police in Mau district, Uttar Pradesh, confronted a group of 20 to 25women staging a sitdown strike to demand the removal of a liquor-vending stallfrom their village, according to PUCL. After failing to persuade the women to disperse,police charged the group with bamboo poles. When this failed to move thewomen, the police opened fire on the unarmed protesters, killing one of them. OnDecember 18, police in Keshori village, Gondia district, Maharashtra, fired on acrowd of persons, killing 5 persons and injuring 31 others. The villagers assertedthat the police firing followed an altercation that arose when villagers objected tosome drunken policemen sexually harrassing a village woman. Police initiallyclaimed that they had fired in self-defense. The entire police contingent later wastransferred to another district. On December 31, police in Rayagada district, Orissa,fired on villagers protesting the attempt of a multinational company to set up analuminum plant in the predominantly tribal area; three persons were killed.Throughout the country, numerous accused criminals continue to be killed in encounterswith police. For example, the Institute of Objective Study in its ‘‘HumanRights Today’’ bulletin of winter 1999–2000 reported that on January 14, police inMeerut, Uttar Pradesh, shot and killed 20-year-old Meerut College student SmitaBhaduri. Three police officers—Inspector A.K. Kaushik, Constables Surendra, andBhagwan Sahay of Daurala police station—were told that ‘‘gangsters were prowling’’Sewaya village on the outskirts of Meerut. After arriving at the village, the threeofficers shot at an automobile, believing it to be the gangsters’ vehicle, killingBhaduri. The officers allegedly reported that Bhaduri was killed by ‘‘crossfire’’ duringan ‘‘encounter’’ with gang members.According to the Government, 542 civilians and 96 police officers died in gunfireexchanges involving police in 1998.Security forces also held persons in incommunicado detention; on occasion, as inthe 1996 case of human rights monitor Jalil Andrabi, such missing persons laterwere found dead (see Sections 1.b. and 4). As of December 1997, 55 cases of disappearanceand custodial death still were pending against Border Security Forcepersonnel in Jammu and Kashmir (see Sections 1.b. and 1.c.).While extrajudicial killings continued in areas affected by separatist insurgencies,the press and judiciary also continued to give attention to deaths in police custody.According to the NHRC, 1,114 persons died in prisons between April 1998 andMarch 1999, many from natural causes that in some cases aggravated by poor prisonconditions (see Section 1.c.). Human rights groups allege that many deaths inprisons are due to torture. There were numerous examples of prison deaths due totorture throughout the year (see Section 1.c.).The NHRC has focused on torture and deaths in custody by directing district magistratesto report all deaths in police and judicial custody and stating that failureto do so would be interpreted as an attempted coverup. Magistrates appear to beVerDate 11-MAY-2000 13:46 Sep 20, 2001 Jkt 071555 PO 00000 Frm 00061 Fmt 6601 Sfmt 6621 F:\WORK\COUNTRYR\S71555\71555.035 HINTREL1 PsN: HINTREL1