NHRC Orders Not Heeded by AP Govt

By J Shanmugha Sundaram

Published: 25th April 2015

VELLORE: The fact finding team of People’s Watch has expressed disappointment at the way the National Human Rights Commission’s (NHRC) is handling the killing of 20 Tamil labourers in an alleged encounter in Seshachalam forest on April 7. 

The commission had directed the AP government and the police department to submit the medico-legal documents related to the encounters during its camp sitting in Hyderabad on April 23. It had also directed the Director General of Police and Chief Secretary of AP government to be present in person during the hearing. But none of the orders was heeded by the AP government, alleged Henri Tiphagne, executive director of People’s Watch.

Claiming that the AP government had not submitted the documents, Tiphagne said, “The AP police and government are wilfully delaying submission of medico-legal documents, which will only lead to further loss of evidence. But the commission has not executed its authority to make AP police fall in line. ”

The commission should have been “harsher” on the faulty AP police, who left the bodies of the victims under direct sunlight for over 10 hours on purpose so that they decomposed quickly to destroy evidence, he added.

Though Tiphagne welcomed NHRC’s decision to take up its own enquiry into the encounters, he pointed out that the posts of Director General of Police (Investigation) and Deputy Inspector General of Police (Investigation) attached to the commission are vacant for more than eight months.. There are only two SPs at their disposal, Tiphagne said.

The non-availability of senior most officers in the investigation wing would further dent the inquiry and give the much-needed breathing space for the AP police, he said.

The AP police has not only dodged the NHRC, but also the Hyderabad HC. The court has directed to submit the reports and legal documents. But, the police has not yet submitted the reports and is seeking more time. “The AP police pleaded the two member bench of HC for time to submit the post mortem report and other legal and department documents,” counsel of the victims’ families K Balu said.