Manjeri district court bars disposal of bodies of slain Maoists

Malappuram: The Manjeri District and Sessions Court on Monday  barred the cremation of the bodies of the two Maoists killed in a shootout with the police till further orders. The court was considering a petition filed by Sreedhar,  brother of slain Maoist leader Kuppu Devaraj. The court ordered the police  to stop any procedures for the disposal of the bodies of Devaraj and Ajitha till 7 p.m. on Tuesday. Earlier,  the police had made it clear that they would dispose of the bodies after 72 hours if nobody came forward to accept them.

Both Devaraj and Ajitha, top leaders of the banned CPI Maoists, were killed on Thursday in a  shootout inside the deep forest in Nilambur which was later termed as a fake encounter by the rights activists. Sreedhar  also requested the court to direct the police to hand over the reports of inquest and post-mortem of the bodies to the family members in the wake of fake encounter allegations. This application will also be considered on Tuesday. Meanwhile,  the Janakeeya Manushyavakash Prashtanam has come up with the  demand  for a judicial probe into the alleged fake encounter.

“The state government should declare a judicial investigation into the incidents. The probe declared by the government is a normal procedure and not sufficient to bring out the truth behind the police action,” said Mr Thusahar Nirmal Saradhi, convener of the rights organisation. He also asked the government to register an FIR against the police involved in the shootout  to prove their claim in court.

The Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisations, a national body of rights organisations, would soon conduct a fact-finding inquiry into the incident and visit the  encounter spot in the forest. They alleged that C.P Jaleel, a Maoist activist, had gone missing after the suspected encounter. “We will register a complaint with district police chief to initiate a probe into the missing of Jaleel. If there is no positive action from the police we will approach the High Court with a habeas corpus petition,” he said.