Telangana High Court orders re-autopsy of encountered Maoists

HYDERABAD: In a significant development, a division bench of the Telangana High Court, on Thursday, ordered re-postmortem of the bodies of three Maoists, including two women, who were allegedly killed in a police encounter at Chennapuram forest area in Cherla on Wednesday. The bench also directed the government to deploy a team of forensic experts from MGM Hospital, Warangal, to conduct the re-postmortem and also to photograph and videograph the same. The Court has also directed the government to submit the re-autopsy report to it in a sealed cover, and to handover the bodies of the Maoists to their respective relatives after the re-postmortem.

The bench, comprising Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy, passed this order in a lunch motion petition filed by Prof Gaddam Laxman, the president of State civil liberties committee, with a plea to register a case against the police concerned under Section 302 IPC (for culpable homicide) and to declare the encounter as illegal and violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.
During the course of hearing, the bench said that there are chances of law and order problem since the Maoists are regaining their strength in the State and that the DGP has been visiting the border areas.

Petitioner’s counsel V Raghunath told the Court that Naxalism is not a law and order problem, but a socio-economic issue. As for Wednesday’s incident, all three persons killed in an exchange of fire between police and the alleged Maoists were tribals and are yet to be identified. He alleged that the Naxal-wing of the Bhadrachalam police brutally murdered the said three persons and hastily took steps to handover their bodies to the relatives in order to ensure that the evidences of the alleged brutal encounter is wiped out, he added.

On the other hand, State advocate general BS Prasad submitted that the three deceased persons — Sodi Jogaiah, Madakam Mangi and Madakam Malli — were killed in a crossfire. It was after the completion of autopsy and other required formalities that the bodies were handed over to their relatives, he informed the Court. Steps will be taken to see that the bodies are not cremated, he said and sought some time for filing counter affidavit.

After hearing both sides, the bench directed the authorities concerned to recover the bodies of all the three deceased persons from their relatives and hand them over to the Bhadrachalam Area Hospital. Re-postmortem should be conducted by a team of forensic experts from MGM Hospital, Warangal, and it should be photographed and videographed and to submit the same in a sealed cover. The bench also made it clear to the authorities to hand over the dead bodies to the relatives of the deceased persons after the re-postmortem examination. The bench posted the matter to November 5 for further hearing.