Dantewada: Magisterial probe into police brutalities

As of now,neither the police nor the civil administration has received any complaints regarding the incident. Nobody has come forward to lodge complaint.

Amidst complaints of alleged police brutalities in three remote villages,the Dantewada district administration on Wednesday night ordered a magisterial inquiry into the matter. It will probe all aspects and circumstances related to reports that security personnel set ablaze houses of tribals and assaulted women after three of their men died in an encounter with rebels on March 14.

We have ordered two separate inquiries. A magisterial inquiry will cover all aspects while a four-member committee will specifically look into the complaints regarding burning of houses and the losses suffered by the local villagers, said Dantewada District Collector R Prasanna.

As of now,neither the police nor the civil administration has received any complaints regarding the incident. Nobody has come forward to lodge complaint. We dont know who did it the police as is being alleged or the Maoists, he said,adding that the administration has sent adequate materials to the three villages to provide relief to the people there. We have taken cognizance of media reports and are taking these steps, he added.

While the incident of alleged burning of houses took place on March 16,the incident came to notice only on March 23 as Morpalli,Tadmetla and Timmapuram villages are located in one of the remotest locations,close to the Andhra Pradesh border. Maoists have a strong presence in the area. Tadmetla is the village where the Naxalites had massacred 76 security personnel on April 6 last year.

The committee comprising Sub-Divisional Magistrate Surendra Kumar Vaidya,journalist Suresh Mahapatra,a local NGO director Pragati Sansathan Narendra and Ratnamala,Secretary Dantewada Literacy Mission,will visit Tadmetla,Morpalli and Timmapuram to inquire into the matter. The terms of reference include whether any houses were burnt at all,if so who did it and to find out the circumstances led to such a situation.

While the police denied the charges describing it as part of usual Maoist propaganda after every encounter in which the rebels suffer heavy loss,sources claimed that the Koya commandos a wing of special police officers had carried out raids in these villages,beaten up the villagers during questioning and ransacked houses.