PUCL demands judicial inquiry into fake encounters in AP, TS

Hyderabad: People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) has demanded a judicial inquiry headed by a former judge of Supreme Court into the recent “fake encounters” in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. It also demanded an comprehensive probe into the nexus between police and politicians with red-sanders smugglers in Chittoor district and suspected terrorists in Telangana. In a press note here on Saturday, PUCL president K Pratap Reddy and its general secretary Jaya Vindhyala demanded that both the State governments book murder cases and bring all the police personnel guilty of snuffling out innocent lives.

They also demanded that the governments immediately suspend the erring personnel pending inquiry. They also sought full protection to all witnesses. In Warangal district, police personnel, escorting five undertrials, who were suspected terrorists, shot them dead at point blank range on the pretext that one of the ultras tried to snatch a firearm from one of the policeman escorting in a bid to flee police custody.

In Andhra Pradesh, 20 men alleged to be smugglers of red sandalwood were shot dead in the Seshachalam forest of Chittoor district, near Tirupati in a joint-operation conducted by the AP Police and Forest Officials, they said. It was surprising to note that a “random firing” in response to stone pelting had resulted in the death of 20 woodcutters. The PUCL leaders said, “There is no concept much less any legal provision for “Encounter Death” as manifested by the police.