New Delhi:
The Supreme Court has condemned the encounter that killed Maoist leader Azad, and a journalist named Hemchandra Pandey. Both men were shot by the Andhra police last July in the Adilabad forests near the Maharashtra-Andhra Pradesh border. The manner in which they were killed has been questioned by human rights activists.
"Our republic cannot behave like this and kill its own children," observed the court, adding , "We hope there will be an answer... a good and convincing answer. The government will have to answer so many questions."
The court has given the Centre and the Andhra police six weeks to respond to why a judicial inquiry should not be ordered into the deaths of the two men. Law Minister Veerappa Moily said, "We agree with the court. It's a matter of concern. We want to ensure such things don't happen again."
The post-mortem report allegedly proves that the men were shot at close range. Bullet marks in the men's bodies also contradict the police's account of the manner in which the men were killed.
Azad, whose real name was Cherukuri Rajkumar, was a spokesperson for the Naxals. Pandey has been described by the government as a Naxal, but his wife says he was eliminated because he was an eyewitness to Azad's murder.
The Supreme Court heard two petitions filed by Swami Agnivesh and Bineeta Pandey, who was married to the journalist who was killed with Azad on the night of July 1, 2010. Both petitions said the men died in a fake encounter, and that their rights were violated.
Swami Agnivesh, a Naxal sympathiser who has repeatedly offered to mediate peace talks between the government and the Naxals, says he was in touch with Azad about a ceasefire when the Naxal leader was killed.
"This was a fake encounter, it just shows how the Hyderabad Police gave a post mortem report first and then changed the report and presented another one," said Bineeta Pandey.