Hyderabad: The Civil Liberties Committee (CLC) has come down heavily on the governments, accusing them of bypassing due process and carrying out alleged fake encounters in the name of anti-Maoist operations. At a press conference held at the NSS office here on Friday, CLC Telangana president Laxman Gaddam and Forrocks Association state secretary voiced their outrage over recent developments in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh.
They alleged that around ten Maoists were taken into custody by the police on June 25 at Parshagarh village in the National Park area, including prominent leaders like Central Committee member Sudhakar, Telangana State Committee member Mailara Adellu alias Bhaskar, Prakash National Park Secretary Dilip, Madhya D Area Secretary Seatu Ramanna, DC member Munna Sunitha Mahesh, and others. According to their information, Sudhakar was later killed in custody without any legal proceedings, while Adellu was shot dead on June 6.
Gaddam expressed dismay that despite repeated appeals from civil rights organisations, the authorities failed to produce the arrested Maoists in court. “Instead of respecting the rule of law, we are seeing a grim pattern of killing them in the name of encounters,” he said, pointing to the disturbing practice of labelling such deaths as encounters to bypass legal scrutiny.
He accused the authorities of carrying out a systematic campaign of encounter killings that has already claimed hundreds of tribal lives and silenced activists. “Even those arrested alive are neither produced in court nor given a fair chance to defend themselves,” he added.
According to Gaddam, the ongoing operation in the National Park area has turned the region into a battlefield where the right to life is under constant threat. “What we see is nothing short of an execution-style approach where every arrested person is shot dead and later declared as an encounter,” he said.
He demanded that the state governments ensure that all those detained are presented before a court, as mandated by law, and held accountable for their safety and right to life. “The government cannot continue to violate basic democratic norms and get away with it,” he said, calling for an end to what he termed as “state-sponsored killings.”
The CLC also called for an independent judicial probe into these incidents, demanding that justice be delivered by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court. They alleged that the state had crossed every democratic limit, turning a blind eye to the law and stifling all forms of dissent.
Gaddam lamented that press freedom had also come under threat, accusing the media of failing to hold the government accountable. “The fourth pillar has collapsed, leaving no room for democratic debate,” he remarked, criticising the PM Modi-led administration for undermining freedom of expression.
He urged people from all walks of life to unite and resist what he called “state repression,” warning that civil rights and democratic freedoms are being systematically dismantled across the country.
Narayana Rao, Hyderabad City general secretary, Raja Ram, and other senior members of the association were also present at the press conference.
