The Supreme Court today sought an explanation from certain rights activistss on the Centres allegation that false petitions were being filed in the court by non-existent persons to discredit the government fighting the Naxalites. It is a serious matter. It is worrying. Please try to satisfy us, a bench of Justices B Sudershan Reddy and S S Nijjar said directing senior counsel Colin Gonzalves to file an affidavit on the issue. The apex court made the remarks after Attorney General G E Vahanvati and Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam said one of the petitioners Madhavi Hurre,who claimed to be a victim of alleged police atrocities on tribals caught in cross-fire with Naxalites,was non existent. The Attorney General said there was no person by the name Madhavi Hurre and the apex court had been cheated by making such false petitions. To queries from the bench,Gonzalves said he was not in a position to explain where Madhavi was at present and apprehended that she might not be alive at the moment or might be in hiding fearing reprisal from police. Hopefully all of them are alive, the bench remarked. It also asked Gonzalves to ensure no allegations are made against National Human Rights Commission. Let there be no allegations against NHRC,the bench said after the Attorney General complained that the NGOs and activists purportedly acting on behalf of the victims of police-Naxalites clashes were making statements discrediting the statutory body. Senior counsel Ranjit Kumar,appearing for Chattisgarh government,cited the recent massacre of 75 CRPF personnel by Maoists and said it was the security forces which were being targeted by Naxalites. Rights activist Himanshu Kumar and certain other persons claiming to be kith and kin of the tribals killed allegedly in anti-Naxal operations in October 2009 had earlier moved the apex court seeking CBI inquiry into killings. The petition by Kumar and the others alleged the police had acted in a most brutal manner against the villagers and even infants were killed in cold blood. It claimed Special Police Officers of Chhattisgarh government,activists of Salwa Judum (group of vigilantes sponsored by Chhattisgarh government and others) and central paramilitary forces were allegedly involved in the massacre on September 17 and October 1,2009. However,the Centre and Chattisgarh government have refuted the allegations and have come together in opposing the rights activists in the Supreme Court.
