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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | NHRC yet to pass final orders on complaints against STF-Krishna Prasad

NHRC yet to pass final orders on complaints against STF-Krishna Prasad

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published Published on Apr 16, 2012   modified Modified on Apr 16, 2012
36 killed in suspicious encounters during anti-Veerappan operations: panel
 
It is nine years since a fact-finding commission constituted by the National Human Rights Commission and headed by a retired High Court judge found that at least 36 people were killed in suspicious encounters by the Special Task Force (STF) during the anti-Veerappan operations.

Yet, the NHRC has not passed final orders on the complaints of atrocities against the STF. The commission, in its interim order in January 2007, ordered the State government to grant interim compensation to the victims of atrocities, including suspicious encounters, rape, molestation, torture and illegal detention.

Bidari case

This aspect came to light recently when the government defended, albeit unsuccessfully, the appointment of Shankar M. Bidari as the head of State police force in the Karnataka High Court.

The government informed the court that the NHRC had neither taken any further steps nor recommended follow-up action on the findings of the report of the fact-finding committee, which comprised retired High Court judge A.J. Sadashiva and former Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation C.V. Narasimhan, submitted in 2003, and the NHRC's interim order issued in 2007 based on this report.

A series of atrocities

The Sadashiva panel, which conducted the probe between 1999 and 2003, concluded that 36 of the 66 deaths were suspicious encounters; three women were subjected to assault, torture and their modesty outraged; one woman was raped and seven persons were under illegal detention, assaulted and tortured, among others.

However, the commission could not identify the STF personnel responsible for atrocities as the incidents took place during early and mid-1990s, and in many cases the victims themselves stated they were kept blind-folded during the torture. The panel was constituted by the NHRC in 1999 after receipt of complaints on STF atrocities.

Mr. Bidari, who headed the Karnataka STF during 1993-96, in his biodata (as found by the High Court from the government records) submitted to the authorities for empanelling IPS officers for the post of Head of State Police Force, said: “He led the [STF] from the front against the gang [of Veerappan] in a number of encounters. The gang, which had more than 150 members, 135 firearms and 3 tonnes of explosives in 1993, was decimated to five members in April 1996. Under his leadership, 60 members were killed in various encounters, and 126 gang members and harbourers were arrested… For his outstanding work, the Government of Karnataka rewarded his team with a cash reward of Rs. 8 crore and a personal reward [for him] of Rs. 160 lakh.”

On noticing these aspects, the High Court in its verdict in the Bidari case observed: “It is not in dispute till today they [the NHRC and the State government] have not identified the perpetrators of those crimes [atrocities by STF] and no action is taken against one individual policeman… Even the NHRC has failed to take further action in the matter.”

The Hindu, 16 April, 2012, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/article3318849.ece


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