Activists demand probe into Saranda killings

RANCHI: Civil rights activists on Tuesday demanded that "murder cases" be lodged against policemen who killed two villagers from Baliba village under Chota Nagra police station in Saranda, West Singhbhum, during Operation Monsoon.
The activists, led by Gladson Dungdung, member of the assessment and monitoring authority of the Planning Commission, raised their voice under the banner of the Jharkhand Human Rights Movement (JHRM).
Dungdung said the villagers, Mangal Honhanga and Soma Guria, were killed by security forces at point blank range during the operation. He said now the police are claiming that both were killed in the crossfire.
On June 30, Honhanga was killed by security forces in the jungle. "On June 29, 16 villagers from Baliba village were picked up by the police for their alleged links with Maoists and made them act as their courier to carry explosives," said Dungdung.
Honhanga, fearing that the explosives may burst, refused. This angered some policemen who shot him dead, said Dungdung.
Similarly, on August 18, Guria was beaten up by the police and tied to a tree. Villagers were asked not to free him. On August 19, he was again beaten up and dragged by the police. Thereafter he died. "The policemen fired on his body to show that he was killed in the encounter," said Dungdung.
He claimed that the inquiry report of the IG, Ranchi zone, Rezi Dungdung, had also said those killed were innocent villagers. "We at JHRM demand that those policemen responsible for the killing of innocent villagers, should be charged with murder. A CBI inquiry should be conducted into all police encounters and custodial deaths," said Dungdung.
He added, "We have submitted a fact-finding report to the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC), National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the ministry of home affairs and the state DGP."
Civil rights activists also demanded a compensation of Rs 10 lakh for the nearest kin of the killed villagers and a government job for a family member. They also demanded proper healthcare and education facilities for villagers in the forests of Saranda.