Encounters not new in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana

Hyderabad: Extra judicial killings and indiscriminate police firings are not new in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

As per the National Human Rights Commission report, there were 22 alleged fake encounters in undivided Andhra Pradesh from 2002 till 2008. There were also several alleged indiscriminate police firings in different parts of the state, including Hyderabad, in which civilians were killed.

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Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee members have filed more than 50 writ petitions in the High Court in the last 20 years, questioning the genuineness of the police firings. Due to the alarming frequency of these police firings, a five-judge Bench of AP High Court had issued an order listing the guidelines for police firing in 2009. The Bench also made an FIR mandatory for every police firing. However, the Supreme Court issued a stay order on it.

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Last year, responding to a PIL filed by People’s Union for Civil Liberties, the Supreme Court issued 16 guidelines on this issue and made it compulsory to conduct an investigation by an independent body and a proper trial in every encounters.

According to NHRC, between 1990 and 2010, encounters were rampant in the Maoist infested areas of AP. Both NHRC and APCLC had questioned the genuineness of most of the police firings.

While National Human Rights Commission itself had looked into several of these cases and expressed concerns, the APCLC and other human rights activists had approached the High Court seeking an intervention.

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“We filed petitions in the HC after each encounter. However, unfortunately all the investigations, except three ordered by the court, were never finished,” said APCLC member and advocate, Mr Suresh Kumar.

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