(C)
ILLUSTRATIVE CASES
9 1 1 As in previous years, this report also includes illusfiative cases identified by the
Commission which reflect the nature and content of grievances of human rights
violations brought to its notice. They cover custodial death and rape, violence against
women, illegal detention, wrongful 'implication, failure of the police to take appropriate
action to protect the victim's intere?t, conditions relating to jails or violence in areas
of insurgency and terrorism.
9.12
The gist of selected illustrative cases follows below :
(I)
Deaths in Alleged "Fake Encounters" with PoIice in Andhra Pradesh
These cases arose out of complaints made by the Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties
Committee (APCLC), a non-governmental organization, which alleged that the Andhra
~ r a d e s hpolice had staged "fake encountersmin order to eliminate members of the
People's War Group (PWG), their supporters and sympathizers: The APCLC, in their
complaint, gave particulars of such encounters which they described as fake, and stated
that, instead'of following the due process of law inrespect of the PWG,the police was
resorting to 'executive elimination'. In some cases, the deceased were found to be
only remotely connected with the People's War Group and in some others the deceased
were not involved in any naxalite activity nor had they been arrested or even mentioned
in any police record.
The claim of the police in each of the cases was that the persons killed had
committed several offences and were accused in criminal cases. Warrants for
arrest, it was said, were issued against them and they were evading arrest and that
the police had the right to use force for effecting arrest which could extend upto causing
of death of the accused if they were involved in offences punishable with death or with
imprisonment for life. The police also claimed that the deceased were the aggressors
and would have Idled the police-personnel had the police not fired at them in exercise
of their right of sdf-defence. They thus sought to justify their killing on the ground that
the deceased themselves were guilty of attempts to commit'the murder of police
personnel.
The Commission noted that the evidence on record did not show in any of the
cases that any prior attempt was made by the police to arrest the deceased persons.
In none of these "encounters", did police personnel receive any injury while one or more