'Hardcore Naxalite, Can't Be Welcomed With Bouquet' : Supreme Court Dismisses Plea Seeking Probe Into Maoist's Death In Encounter

On May 22, the Supreme Court dismissed a petition filed against the Chhattisgarh High Court's refusal to order a re-postmortem and investigation into the death of Katha Ramchandra Reddy, a Maoist commander killed last year in September in an alleged police encounter in Chhattisgarh. 

A bench comprising Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Satish Chandran Sharma heard the special leave petition filed by the Maoist leader's son against the High Court's order refusing an investigation by the special investigation team. 

At the outset, Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves submitted that multiple injuries were found on the body of Reddy. He claimed it was a case of custodial torture. 

But Justice Datta asked, "Is it that the encounter is to be only done with gunshots? There can also be a scuffle. Now, in the course of a scuffle, any injury is inflicted on the body of the deceased; how do you infer it's a custodial death?"

Gonsalve submitted that there are many more injuries which reflect he was tortured. But Justice Datta countered that there is a possibility that the wounds were caused by the bolt of the rifle. 

Justice Sharma also added that jungle warfare is a difficult task and remarked that the petitioner's father is a "hardcore Naxalite" from whom sophisticated weapons were recovered during the operation: "You can't be welcomed with a bouquet."

Justice Datta, with whom Justice Sharma agreed, remarked that security forces engaged in anti-Naxal operations operate in extremely dangerous conditions where their "lives are at risk," but added that had this been some villager, the Court would have understood. 

The Court dismissed the appeal. 

It may be recalled that last year, it directed that the dead body of Reddy must be preserved in a mortuary till the Chhattisgarh High Court decides the writ petition filed by his son against the encounter. The son, Raja Chandra, alleged that it was a fake encounter. He approached the Supreme Court, saying that the High Court had refused to grant an urgent hearing for his petition before the closure for Puja vacations.