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You are here: Home / Archives for Chittoor

Chittoor Mayor brutally murdered, husband injured in attack

November 17, 2015 by Nasheman

Katari Anuradha

Chittoor: The Mayor of Chittoor was today stabbed to death and her husband seriously injured by unidentified assailants, in an attack suspected to be a fallout of a family dispute, police said.

The incident occurred at Chittoor Municipal Corporation office when five-six persons with their faces covered barged into Mayor Katari Anuradha’s chamber and stabbed her, resulting in her death, DIG (Anantapur Range) K Satyanarayana told PTI.

The Mayor, aged around 50, belonged to the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP).

Before escaping from the spot, the assailants went into an adjoining room where Anuradha’s husband K Mohan, also senior TDP leader, was sitting and apparently shot at him before stabbing him, Andhra Pradesh Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) R P Thakur said.

Asked specifically if the mayor was shot dead, Thakur said she was stabbed to death.

Mohan was taken to the Christian Medical College Hospital at Vellore for treatment where his condition was reported to be serious, Satyanarayana said.

“As per preliminary information, the attack was carried out following a family dispute. An investigation has been launched and the truth will be revealed soon. The attackers belong to Karnataka and a hunt has been launched to nab them. We will catch them very soon,” he said.

A pistol and a knife have been recovered from the spot, the DIG added.

(PTI)

Filed Under: India Tagged With: Andhra Pradesh, Chittoor, Katari Anuradha, TDP, Telugu Desam Party

Chittoor firing: HC orders fresh post-mortem of 5 victims

April 17, 2015 by Nasheman

Red Sanders

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court today ordered fresh autopsies for another five victims of the police firing in Seshachalam forests of Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh state on April 7. Yesterday it had ordered fresh post-mortem of victim Sasi Kumar, a Tamil Nadu-based labourer, upon his wife’s application. The division bench of Chief Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta and Justice P V Sanjay Kumar passed the direction today after relatives of five more victims (out of the 20 people who were killed) moved the court seeking fresh autopsies.

The “re-post-mortem” was sought with the accusation that the firing incident was a “brutual and planned murder” by the Special Task Force (STF) of Andhra Pradesh Police. Yesterday, the high court had directed the Andhra Pradesh government to conduct fresh autopsy on the body of Sasi Kumar in response to the application filed by his wife Muniyammal. Her counsel had sought fresh autopsies for five others too, but the court declined to pass order, as the relatives concerned had not approached the court.

Muniyammal’s lawyer, advocate K Balu, today filed similar applications on behalf of the kin of five deceased — wives of four victims and another’s mother. The high court also ordered teams of medical experts from either Osmania Hospital or Gandhi Hospital (both state-run institutions here) to fly to Chennai to conduct the re-postmortem of the five bodies.

All the six bodies, including that of Sasi Kumar, are being kept at a government hospital in Thiruvannamalai district of Tamil Nadu. The judges also directed the chief secretary of Tamil Nadu to ensure safety of the medical teams. Their reports should be submitted in a sealed cover to the court on Monday, they said.

(PTI)

Filed Under: Human Rights, India Tagged With: Andhra Pradesh, Chittoor, Human rights, NHRC, Red Sanders, Rights

Chittoor encounter case: Two survivors to appear before NHRC

April 13, 2015 by Nasheman

Chittoor_encounter

New Delhi: The two survivors, who escaped the fierce exchange of fire between Andhra Police and alleged woodcutters in Chittoor district last week, are likely to appear before the National Human Rights Commission in Delhi on Monday, April 13.

According to reports, the two eyewitnesses boarded the evening flight to Delhi from Chennai to meet the NHRC. However, the third survivor, due to lack ID documents, could not travel.

The third survivor, Illango, had claimed that he was pulled out of a bus along with other villagers near Tiruttani by Andhra police before being detained.

Meanwhile, Andhra Police in Nellore has arrested 63 Tamil smugglers suspected to b part of the 20-member group killed in Seshachalam forest, as per ANI.

National Human Rights Commission on Thursday issued a notice to Telangana government seeking

a report over the killing of five under-trials, who were allegedly associated with SIMI and other radical groups, in police custody.

“Prima facie, it appears that this is an instance of blatant use of disproportionate force resulting in loss of lives of 5 undertrials who were in judicial custody and gross violation of human rights”, NHRC said in a statement.

The Commission has issued notices to the Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police, Telengana, calling for reports within two weeks.

It will further take up the matter in its camp sitting to be held at Hyderabad on April 23.

The notices were issued after the Commission took suo motu cognizance of media reports that Telengana police have shot dead five undertrials alleged to be associated with SIMI and other radical outfits when they were being brought by them to Hyderabad in connection with a court case on April 7.

According to media reports, the incident took place when the vehicle carrying the undertrials crossed Warangal district border and reached the outskirts of Tangupuru village in Aler Mandal of Nalgonda district.

“One of the undertrials asked the police to halt the vehicle for a toilet break. While getting back to the van, he allegedly snatched an INSAS rifle from a policeman and fired two bullets at a Sub-Inspector sitting in the front row, who ducked and escaped. Sensing danger, other Constables immediately opened fire resulting in the instant death of five undertrials,” the statement said.

The Commission has also observed that from the news report, it transpires that at the time of the incident, at least four of the undertrials were inside the van guarded by the accompanying policemen.

(Agencies)

Filed Under: Human Rights, India Tagged With: Andhra Pradesh, Chittoor, Human rights, NHRC, Red Sanders, Rights

Reign in the trigger-happy police force in Andhra and Telangana – statement by JTSA

April 9, 2015 by Nasheman

fake_encounter

by Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association

JTSA condemns the killing of over 20 woodcutters in the Seshachalam forests and the 5 under-trials in Nalagonda (Telangana). In the first case, reports are already emerging that 7 of those killed, were taken in police custody a day before the encounter. This, along with other details such as bullet injuries on the chest, head and face, contradict the police version of the events. The scale of this violence is unprecedented and suggests how entrenched the culture of impunity is in the state police.

The photographic and video evidence emerging from the police van in which five undertrials – alleged terrorists – were killed by the police party, which was escorting them from Warangal jail to a court in Hyderabad strongly suggests this to be a case of cold-blooded execution in custody. The arms on the dead bodies of these five men – with their hands handcuffed to the seats of the police vehicle – appear to be clearly planted in order to ‘dress’ this up as an exchange of fire. Is it a mere coincidence that the judgment in the case of these five men was due to be pronounced soon?

All efforts must be made to ensure that the post mortem reports and other evidence such as ballistics and the clothes worn by the deceased in both the cases are secured and not tampered with. Time-bound high level judicial probes must be conducted into both the killings. Simultaneously, cases of unnatural death must be filed immediately and special public prosecutors appointed in consultation with the families to prosecute the policemen who participated in the massacres.

The media must follow these cases right through to their logical end in the fixing of accountability and not be satisfied with merely reporting the events as they have taken place.

However, the recent judgment on Hashimpura reveals the problems germane to doing justice to victims of encounters and custodial violence, that are near rampant. While the judgment does not deny the incident of 42 Muslim men being killed in cold blood by the PAC, there were no convictions because of the extremely weak nature of the evidence put forward by the prosecution. There is a need for a clear mechanism whereby either the prosecution or investigating agencies can themselves be held accountable. In heinous crimes such as cold-blooded massacres, how can there be no means to ensure that the investigating agencies and prosecution do their duty in fixing responsibility? Unless such a procedure or mechanism is evolved, justice will always elude the mechanical and cynical application of laws.

Filed Under: Human Rights, India Tagged With: Andhra Pradesh, Chittoor, Human rights, Jamia Teachers Solidarity Association, JTSA, NHRC, Red Sanders, Rights, SIMI, Students Islamic Movement of India, Telangana, Undertrials, Vikaruddin Ahmed, Warangal

Two encounters and a democracy

April 9, 2015 by Nasheman

fake_encounter

by Samar

The world’s largest democracy witnessed its police force killing 25 of its citizens in two encounters in Andhra Pradesh. “Encounters”, for the uninitiated, are a euphemism for killing unarmed civilians in staged gun battles. The police version of both the alleged encounters is such that it could be laughed-off had they not been about the deaths of civilians.

The police version of the first encounter is that newly formed Red-sanders Anti-Smuggling Task Force spotted footprints of the “smugglers” and came across around 100 of them felling trees in the Seshachalam Forest at the foot of the Tirumala Hills. Members of the Task Force challenged them to surrender, but the woodcutters responded by pelting stones. The Task Force in turn responded to the raining stones by firing randomly at the woodcutters, which led to death of 20 of them; the rest ran away. “We fired random shots in self-defence”, a taskforce member told the national daily The Hindu on condition of anonymity.

Logs and slippers neatly arranged!

Yes, you have read it right. A “random firing” in response to stone pelting has resulted in the death of 20 woodcutters. One wonders what could have been the toll had the Force targeted the woodcutters in self-defense. Let us forget how disproportionate it is to use bullets for stones, even if the stones were “raining” down. The alleged encounter took place in a jungle after all and trees could have given ample protection till the Task Force was able to gather itself. But then, Indian law enforcers are used to responding to stones with bullets, for instance in Kashmir in 2010, where 112 people were killed. This included many teenagers and an 11-year-old boy. An uncanny question about this encounter is why the Task Force did not arrest a single person from amongst the remaining 80 or so smugglers. So, not even “dead or alive”, the motto seems to have been “dead or nothing” or “take no prisoners”.

If one finds this one strange, wait till you catch up on the details of the second encounter. This one took place in a jail van, where 17 security force members were taking 5 undertrials from Warangal Jail to a Hyderabad court 150 km away. Yes, you read this right too. This encounter happened inside a jail van with all of the undertrials killed, while unarmed and handcuffed to their seats. The police claims, as per a news channel NDTV that Vikaruddin Ahmed, one of the undertrials, asked to be released in order for him to answer nature’s call. Upon his return he tried to snatch a weapon. The police opened fire when other undertrials allegedly tried to snatch weapons too and this led to all of them getting killed!

How could Vikaruddin Ahmed attempt to snatch a weapon from the security personnel, as undertrials are never let-off alone, not even to use the toilet? As standard operating procedure, security personnel always escort undertrials. Furthermore, even if he did attempt to snatch weaponry, how come a 17-member security force failed to overpower him without firing? Were not remaining four, as per their own claims, still handcuffed and unarmed? Finally, while it is impossible to believe this uncanny and highly improbable story, why exactly did the police need to kill the other four undertrials?

The answers to all these questions are rather simple. The victims in the first case were poor tribal youth caught not only in between lucrative offers of easy money but also interstate (and interlingua) rivalries between the neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. That they were not real smugglers but merely coolies for the smuggling mafia that enjoys state patronage on both sides of the border is something immaterial for the police, which could shoot them with impunity but will never dare to touch real smugglers. What should be really bothersome, however, is the way almost all of the Indian media carried the story, parroting the police version, including calling those dead smugglers. Most media houses did not bat an eyelid to ask the obvious: why fire on people pelting stones and how come the Force could not arrest a single person.

Victims of the second encounter came from another persecuted minority of India. They were accused of being members of a local terror outfit Tehreek-Ghalba-e-Islam and were suspected of various attacks on the police in Hyderabad, as well as plotting the murder of Narendra Modi, now Prime Minister of India. They were in jail since 2010. In this case too, the media did the same. A few of reports went to the extent of claiming that the gunning down had foiled a terror plot against Mr. Modi. Only later did the skeletons come tumbling out of the closet. The pictures showing the “terrorists” slain while still being handcuffed to their seats make it nearly impossible for the media to keep parroting the police version.

Security forces eliminating people in custody or with impunity in “encounters” is one of the worst kept secrets of India. The Supreme Court, in its order in Criminal Appeal No.1255 OF 1999, has called such killings nothing less than “state sponsored terrorism”. The Court had done so despite recognising the fact that policemen are indeed required to “take to take drastic action against criminals to protect life and property of the people and to protect themselves against attack.” And yet, it set stringent guidelines to be followed as standard operating procedure in cases of encounters. The guidelines begin from the point of a tip off that can lead to such encounters to video-graphing the post-mortem of individuals that happen to die in the process of police work.

What, however, is a Supreme Court order worth that carries no weight for the police. Let us forget the second encounter, as it is simply too frivolous to be true, and check the facts of the first one. Did the Task Force record the tip-off in any diary? Did it file the mandatory FIR following the encounter and forward it to the court under Section 157 of the Code without any delay? Were any of the guidelines fulfilled so that an independent inquiry could reveal facts about the deaths? One of the guidelines requires an investigation by the Crime Investigation Department or a different police station by an officer at least one rank above the involved officer does not make much sense as officers from whatever stations but same police force investigating an encounter is like asking the accused to investigate himself.

The efficacy of a magisterial inquiry, another guideline set by the Court order, is exposed by the one that was conducted in the custodial killing of Thangjam Manorama, a Manipuri village girl, in 2004. The report of the judicial inquiry commission, led by C. Upendra Singh, retired District and Sessions Judge, Manipur, was submitted in December the same year and was never made public until November 2014. The report indicted personnel of 17 Assam Rifles for “brutal and merciless torture” of Ms. Manorama. Yet this has not resulted in the prosecution of any of the accused and the compensation to the family of the victim. Going by the evidence available, the fate of magisterial enquiries, even those that have fulfilled their mandate, cannot be drastically different in other such cases.

This begets another question: are Indian citizens cursed to live with the danger of getting killed by someone obligated to protect their person and property? They may fear more if they come from vulnerable sections of the society. But should they fear less even if they do not?

Till someone takes the responsibility of reforming the criminal justice system of the country all Indians are in danger. A cruel, violent, and unjust system harbouring criminals in uniform will hurt one and all. The Executive is not interested in any such reform as this system serves its interests well. Will the Judiciary take onus to enforce its orders? And, will the civil society of India understand that having good laws and court orders is not real protection for the marginalized or even the mainstream population in such a criminal justice system?

The author is a Programme Coordinator, Right to Food, AHRC, Hong Kong.

Filed Under: Human Rights, Opinion Tagged With: Andhra Pradesh, Chittoor, Human rights, NHRC, Red Sanders, Rights, SIMI, Students Islamic Movement of India, Telangana, Undertrials, Vikaruddin Ahmed, Warangal

Chittoor encounter 'survivor' surfaces, cops come under fire

April 8, 2015 by Nasheman

Chittoor_encounter

Chittoor: A rights group said on Wednesday it has traced a “survivor” from a group of loggers shot dead by Andhra Pradesh police in an incident dubbed as a “massacre” of wood-cutters from neighbouring Tamil Nadu.

On Tuesday, Andhra Pradesh police had claimed to have shot dead 20 illegal red sandalwood smugglers in a forest close to the temple town of Tirupati, sparking violent protests in the neighbouring state which continued on Wednesday.

Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee member Kranthi Chaitanya, in the forefront of a demand for a judicial enquiry into the encounter, said the organisation has “managed to establish contact with the survivor through relatives of the deceased who have come here (Chittoor) from Tamil Nadu.

“He is being kept at a safe place. We will produce him before the National Human Rights Commission,” he added.

The NHRC has already taken suo moto cognizance of the incident and asked for reports from the Andhra Pradesh chief secretary and police chief.

Family-members of a few of the slain “smugglers” arrived at the government mortuary in Chittoor also said the “survivor” was among of 8 wood-cutters hired by red sanders smugglers in Andhra.

The identity of the “survivor”, said to be from Arjuna Puram village in Thiruvanamalai district of Tamil Nadu, was not given.

They quoted him as saying that seven of his group were pulled out of a bus on Monday by police during a search at Nagari on the inter-state border.

“They were traveling in a bus from Thiruvanamalai to Chitoor on Monday afternoon. The bus was stopped by police and seven of the eight men were arrested. He was sitting separately and managed to slip away quietly,” said Raja Babu (38), a relative of one of those killed in the encounter.

The survivor is said to have returned to village on Tuesday morning, around the time news of the encounter broke on TV.

Media reports said that right group Amnesty International has also called for a fair probe into the incident.

Meanwhile, protests continued in Tamil Nadu with incidents of stone-pelting on buses originating in Andhra.

Police said four persons have been arrested over the attacks on buses. Several outfits organised protests in some parts of Tamil Nadu condemning the incident.

Tamil Nadu chief minister O Panneerselvam had written to the Andhra government, demanding a probe into what he called a massacre of innocent Tamils.

Union home minister Rajnath Singh also called up Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu over the incident.

(Agencies)

Filed Under: Human Rights, India Tagged With: Andhra Pradesh, Chittoor, Human rights, NHRC, Red Sanders, Rights

Probe ordered into 'police encounter' killing of 20 sanders

April 8, 2015 by Nasheman

Red Sanders

Hyderabad: A magisterial inquiry has been ordered by the Chittoor District Collector into the “police encounter” in which 20 alleged red sanders smugglers were shot dead in Seshachalam hill ranges in Andhra Pradesh.

“The Additional District Magistrate, who is also the District Revenue Officer (DRO), has been asked to inquire into the entire events and submit a report to me. It will be subsequentally submitted to the government,” Chittoor District Collector Siddharth Jain said.

“The report will go into details and reasons for the police opening fire and whether the situation warranted it,” Jain said, adding the DRO has been asked to inquire into the matter and submit the report at the earliest.

Twenty alleged red sanders smugglers were killed in a heavy exchange of fire after they allegedly attacked the police early morning today in Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district.

Six police personnel were injured in the attack by the smugglers.

Meanwhile, after protests and reported stonepelting on Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) buses APSRTC buses in Tamil Nadu, senior APSTRC officials said today that the matter came up for discussion.

“They are yet to take a call on cancelling APSRTC bus services to Tamil Nadu,” they said.

“We have not yet decided about cancelling any services as of now but may consider it tomorrow morning depending on the situation. The Hyderabad-Chennai bus has already left and once it reaches Nellore (in AP), we may take a call,” an APSRTC spokesperson said.

APSRTC operates around 35 buses to Chennai and other destinations in Tamil Nadu.

(PTI)

Filed Under: India Tagged With: Andhra Pradesh, Chittoor, Red Sanders

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