Return of the encounter reign

HYDERABAD: On December 1, 1999, the Andhra Pradesh special police picked up three top leaders of People's War - Nalla Adi Reddy, Santosh Reddy and Seelam Naresh - from Banashankari in Bangalore where they were taking shelter. In the early hours of December 2, the trio lay dead in Koyyuru forest area in Karimnagar, their bodies pumped with bullets. The official version stated it as an 'encounter' because the trio tried to escape."Killed in cold blood," went the hoarse cry of activists.
Fifteen years later, on April 6, 2015, AP police picked up seven Malayali hill tribe people from a bus at Nagari on the Andhra-Tamil Nadu border and brought them to Sachinodibanda in Seshachalam forests in Chittoor. They were among the 20 woodcutters killed in an 'encounter' at the crack of dawn on April 7. Both the encounters had a similar beginning and bloody ending and in both incidents, Chandrabababu Naidu was at the helm as chief minister.
The Seshachalam bloodbath took place a day after Naidu was felicitated by AP Non-Gazetted Officers Association (APNGOs) in Tirupati on April 6. Whispers abound in the corridors of power that without express political sanction, police would not exceed their brief and resort to killing poor labourers (branded smugglers).
"Police are only as lawful or lawless as the political establishment wants them to be and make a mess of the right to life (Article 21) enshrined in the Constitution," says V S Krishna of Human Rights Forum.
A staggering 1,588 people (see box) were killed in various encounters between September 1, 1995, and May 13, 2004, when Naidu enjoyed the longest tenure as chief minister of undivided AP. The pattern in these killings remains unchanged. Most of these encounters take place when the victims are arrested a few hours, if not days, before the so-called exchange of fire. The police officers responsible for the 'encounter killings' have been handed out gallantry awards, accelerated promotions, plum postings, cash prizes and unlimited fuel. With the police given a free hand, the pace and magnitude of the encounter killings also increased over the years.
Irrespective of which side has the truth, it is bizarre to note that the Task Force team escaped unharmed and 20 woodcutters (it's the highest toll in a single encounter with red sanders smugglers) were left dead in the April 7 operation. "There is a lot of insensitivity on the part of governments towards the exploited class. This is silent killing of innocent people. In fact, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has chronicled several fake encounters in Gujarat and other states," asserts K R Venugopal, former special rapporteur, NHRC.
Encounter has become a euphemism for liquidating unarmed civilians in a stage-managed gun battle. And it was perfected in the interior forests of Srikakulam in the late '60s to check the rise of ultra left movement in Naxalbari, West Bengal, in the summer of 1967. Whoever was found taking up the cause of Naxalism was shot dead and the operation was called an "encounter with police."
Ever since, encounter killing has become the 'standard operating procedure' (SOP) for cops and Chandrababu Naidu has taken this SOP to a new level to showcase AP as an investor-friendly state. More so, with the new capital coming up in Guntur-Vijayawada region, Naidu's only focus seems to be on building a world class capital city and wooing bigger players like Singapore, Japan and China to AP.
"The impunity with which the cops suppressed dissent and terrorised people during Naidu's previous two terms is well known. The Seshachalam massacre is an extension of the encounter endemic prevalent in AP. In fact, we have two police states now," explains senior political analyst N Venugopal, flaying the killing of five 'terror operatives' in Telangana on the same day. The liquidation of political opponents and custodial deaths has been no less.
The formation of Greyhounds, an elite commando force, in 1986-87 to combat left-wing extremists was also an extension of AP government's larger game plan to stamp out dissent. Greyhounds is one of the highest paid forces in the country - even better than the National Security Guard. But charge memos were issued to three IPS officers - A Sivashankar, Shriram Tiwari and Nalin Prabhat - for faking their role in Naxal encounters and obtaining gallantry awards between 2002 and 2003. During the TDP regime, Sivashankar was the eyes and ears of Naidu, being the Intelligence chief. Officers like HJ Dora, K Aravinda Rao, Vinay Kumar Singh and Mahesh Bhagwath commanded supreme powers during Naidu's reign.
The police firing on farmers agitating against electricity tariff hike in Basheerbagh, Hyderabad, on August 28, 2000, which led to the killing of three ryots, may have been forgotten but the embers of farmers' anger are still burning. "The brazen display of police power and mishandling of the issue by Naidu is still fresh in our memory," recalls CPI state secretary Chada Venkat Reddy.
That Naidu has not fallen foul of extra-judicial killings and wants to go ahead with a 'police raj' became crystal clear as soon as he took over as CM on June 8, 2014, when three Naxals, including two women, were gunned down in Nallamala forests in Guntur-Prakasam region 11 days later (June 19). "He wants to send a strong message to investors that AP is a peaceful state and no resistance would be tolerated," said a senior IPS officer.
It is reassuring that Naidu is busy wooing foreign investors to build the state and the new capital, but it's quite distressing that AP has the dubious distinction of a record fake encounter killings -- a blot Naidu would find it hard to erase.