New Delhi: Indian forces killed sixteen people, including a top leader of the Communist Party of India-Maoist, in Jharkhand state of India.
According to Beyond the Time News, around 15 people, including central committee member Anal alias Patiram Manjhi, have been killed by Indian forces during a cordon and search operations naming it anti-Naxalites operation near Kumbhdih village, and Saranda Forest of Jharkhand’s West Singhbhum district.
Residents of surrounding villages reported hearing continuous gunfire from the early morning hours, with heavy firing echoing from deep inside the forest by Indian forces, though the Indian officials said that the counting deaths is still going on.
A top leader of the Communist Party of India-Maoist, Patiram Manjhi alias Anal Da, Muppala Laxman Rao, Thippiri Thirupathi aka Devji (reportedly the new CPI-Maoist general secretary), Paka Hanumanthulu and Pusunuri Narahari (all from Telangana); Misir Besra (Jharkhand) and Majjidev (from Chhattisgarh) were killed in the Saranda forest area of West Singhbhum district, Indian officials said.
According to police officials, the operation was launched on Thursday morning near Kumbhdih village under the Chotanagra police station limits.
The operation, to eliminate all those Adivasis or Dalits who demand political justice, is going on the orders of Indian Home Minister Amit Shah.
Civil society groups and political leaders who always condemned such killings, describing them as “fake encounters” carried out by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Indian government against members of the CPI-Maoist organisation.
Human rights and civil liberties groups across India have also denounced extrajudicial killings of CPI-Maoist leaders and cadres, many of whom are Adivasis. They assert that no person, regardless of political affiliation or ideological beliefs, is beyond the protection of the law. Such killings, they argue, violate the right to life and due process and undermine the foundations of a democratic society governed by the rule of law.
The Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) has stated that despite clear legal precedents, ongoing operations such as Operation Kagar, and its offshoots Operation Sankalp and Operation Black Forest, exhibit a disturbing pattern of indiscriminate killings. It maintains that the operations reflect a systematic policy of extermination that bypasses the criminal justice system and violates constitutional norms.
The Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisations (CDRO) has demanded that arrested Maoists be produced before a court immediately and that a judicial inquiry be conducted to investigate the alleged encounters.
Meanwhile, six labourers were killed and five others were critically injured after a fly ash leak at a sponge iron manufacturing unit of steel plant in Balodabazar-Bhatapara district of Chhattisgarh state. Most of the victims were migrants from Bihar state.
