ENCOUNTERS ARE OFTEN STAGED TO GET MEDALS, SAY RIGHTS ACTIVISTS

A CRPF officer’s report seeking probe into an alleged fake encounter in Assam on March 30 has opened up a can of worms. The incident that the officer has cited, rights activists said, is one of many that are often stage-managed for medals.

Rajnish Rai, inspector general of CPRF’s north eastern sector had in his April 17 report to the force’s headquarters alleged that the killing of two suspected members of extremist group National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Songbijit) near Simlaguri village was staged.

Demanding a thorough probe by neutral agencies or judges, rights activists said the content of Rai’s report is true of many encounters in the northeast, where more than 25,000 people have died because of insurgency since the late 1950s.

“The CRPF officer has just affirmed what the armed forces have been denying – that fake encounter happens. Last year in November, the security forces killed two teenagers on the border with Arunachal Pradesh claiming they were dreaded militants. Pistols were shown recovered from them, but ground realities were different,” Jorhat-based rights activist Bondita Acharya told Hindustan Times.

Suhas Chakma of the Delhibased Asian Centre for Human Rights said Manipur and Assam accounted for 20.5% of 555 fake encounter cases across India between April 2009 and April 2013.

A spokesperson of the army’s 4th Corps based in north-central Assam’s Tezpur declined to comment on Rai’s report. “This is being taken up at a higher level,” he said.

Rights activists said encounters are often staged by officers in a bid to get medals or recommendations.

“I am not sure about the central forces, but a scan through the medals tally of the state police will reveal the number of medals is directly proportional to the number of encounters,” Imphal-based activist Sobita Mangsatabam said.