Plea seeking probe into Chhattisgarh extra judicial killings of tribals junked by SC

New Delhi, July 14: The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a plea seeking an independent probe into the killing of some villagers in Chhattisgarh during an anti-Naxal operation in the state in 2009.

The bench consisted of Justices A M Khanwilkar and J B Pardiwala. The apex court also imposed an exemplary cost of Rs five lakh on petitioner and social activist Himanshu Kumar.

The PIL dates back to 2009 when Himanshu Kumar and others moved the top court in connection with the killing of around a dozen villagers in Dantewada district during the anti-Naxal operation.

Kumar also claimed that family members of the deceased and other eyewitnesses had seen the security forces attack the tribals with bayonets, shoot them at close range, and mutilate the bodies.

On Centre's petition seeking prosecution against the petitioners for the offence of making false charges, the bench left it on the Chhattisgarh government to take action also permitted a probe against individuals and organisations.

The court said that action can be taken not only for false charges but also for criminal conspiracy. The bench said it leaves it to Chhattisgarh to take apt steps in accordance with law in connection with assertions in the interim application by the Centre.

"We clarify that it would not only be limited to the offence of Section 211 of the IPC. A case of conspiracy or any other offence may also surface. We have not expressed any final opinion. We leave it to the better discretion of the state," said the bench.

The Central government had moved an application before the apex court seeking to hold Kumar, who filed the public interest litigation (PIL), guilty of levelling false charges of extra-judicial killings against security forces in relation to operations conducted against left-wing extremists in Chhattisgarh in 2009.

That year, Kumar had moved the top court detailing how between September 2009 to October 2009, security forces had not only committed extra-judicial killings, but also raped and looted tribal people in the areas of Gachanpalli, Gompad and Belpocha in the district of Dantewada, Chhattisgarh.

As per top court orders in 2010, a Delhi district judge was ordered to record the statements of the petitioners. However, the statements then recorded were made available to the Centre only in March 2022.

In its application before the apex court, the Central government claimed that after examining the statements so recorded, it was clear that the arguments made by the PIL petitioner were "ex facie false, fabricated and deceitful."It further stated that the sole objective of the petitioner was to portray the left wing extremists as "innocent tribal victims being massacred by security forces."

In the present case, the sole objective of the petitioner was to derail the security forces from their ongoing efforts to neutralize left wing extremism, the Central government contended.

"It is submitted that all this was done before the highest court of the country and at the altar of national security," the application stated.

The Centre had, therefore, prayed for holding the petitioner guilty of submitting false evidence.

It also sought directions for the CBI or the National Investigation Agency (NIA) or any other central agency to probe individuals and organisations who have been abetting and conspiring to file petitions in court to deter security forces from acting against naxal militia.