GOVT SEEKS PROBE AGAINST THOSE USING COURTS ‘TO PROTECT NAXALS’

The Union government has approached the Supreme Court for an “in-depth investigation” against individuals and organisations trying to use the constitutional courts of the country to shield Naxal militia, claiming that some motivated persons were able to fraudulently obtain “legal protection to the leftwing extremists” through various court orders.

An application moved by the Centre, through the ministry of home affairs (MHA), urged the court to direct any central investigating agency, including the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or the National Investigation Agency (NIA), to register a criminal case and carry out a comprehensive probe to identify individuals and organisations involved in litigation to protect violent maoist activities.

The plea, moved on Thursday, sought to investigate those “who have been conspiring, abetting and facilitating filing of petitions premised on false and fabricated evidence before this Hon’ble court (Supreme Court) as well as before the hon’ble high courts with a motive to either deter the security agencies to act against the left wing (Naxal) militia by imputing false charges on them or to screen off the left wing (Naxal) militia from being brought to justice by creating a false narrative of victimization before the hon’ble courts.”

The MHA moved this application in a petition filed by activist Himanshu Kumar in 2009, accusing Chhattisgarh police and central security forces of killing 17 tribals in two separate incidents in Dantewda district that year.

Kumar’s petition also joined 12 villagers who corroborated the version of extra-judicial killings, accusing the security forces of killing two villagers from Velpocha and Nalkathong, along with the nine at Gompad, on October 1, 2009. It further held them responsible for the deaths of six villagers at Gachanpalli on September 17, 2009. The petition demanded a CBI probe into the killings, strict action against the security forces and compensation for the victims’ families.

In February 2010, the top court had asked Delhi’s district judge GP Mittal to record the statements of the 12 tribal petitioners, in the presence of an interpreter as well as Kumar. The court also directed videography of the entire incident to ascertain witnesses are free from any coercion or threat, besides ordering security for them. The district judge submitted his report on the witnesses’ statements and on March 19, 2010, the top court directed that the report be given to all the parties.

In its application, the Centre said that “surprisingly” the report was nowhere to be found in its records and that it had to make numerous attempts to procure the records from the Supreme Court registry.

The court is expected to consider the Centre’s request on April 28.