New Delhi: A judicial commission that investigated the 2013 firing by security forces at Edesmetta in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district has concluded that those killed and injured were unarmed and none of them were linked to Maoist bodies.
Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel tabled the findings of the one-member judicial panel in the assembly along with the action taken report, on March 14.
Eight people, including three minors, were killed and four others injured in the intervening night of May 17 and 18, 2013. A member of the elite CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) battalion of the CRPF was also killed – in what the report has now observed could be cross-firing by the security forces themselves.
Writing for The Wire in 2018, Freny Manecksha noted the details, of the night – on which festivities involving men was afoot.
“Seven villagers died that night: Karam Pandu (the pujari), Karam Somlu, Punem Somu and four minors – Karam Guddu, Punem Lakku, Karam Badru and Karam Masa. CRPF constable Dev Prakash’s body was found next to that of Karam Masa. According to villagers, he died in the same burst of gunfire. It is said that after the firing stopped, Karam Jogga, who was grievously injured, was heard pleading for water, but died thereafter. The number of those died rose to eight after another villager succumbed to his injuries,” Manecksha wrote.
The security forces had, at the time, claimed the encounter broke out after Maoists opened fire at them. The Raman Singh-led government had formed a judicial commission headed by Justice (retired) V.K. Agrawal to investigate the incident.
Also read: The Edesmetta Inquiry, and Adivasis’ Odyssey to Justice in Chhattisgarh
The commission, in its report in Hindi, pointed out that it is not established that the encounter took place with Maoists. “The incident took place after security personnel opened fire in panic on seeing people gathered around a fire (apparently a bonfire) near Edesmetta, possibly assuming that they were members of a Naxal outfit,” the report said.
“Security forces did not fire in self-defence but it appears it was done in mistake and panic,” it added.
Hindustan Times has reported human rights activist and advocate Bela Bhatia as having called for the indictment of those guilty. Manecksha’s piece also mentions extraordinarily cruel treatment of villagers by security forces in the aftermath of the incident, including beatings and deprivation of food.
The report said that if security forces had been well equipped with adequate self-defence gadgets and had better intelligence inputs and taken proper precautions, “then possibly the firing could have been avoided.”
The report further stated that no association of any of the killed or injured persons to a Maoist organisation has been proved as there is no satisfactory evidence in this regard.
“Even the state government has provided compensation to the injured and kin of the deceased persons. It is a well-established policy of the state government that no compensation is given to injured ultras or the kin of killed Naxals. Therefore, the state government has also not considered the people killed and injured in the encounter as Naxalites,” it said.
The report also notes that there is no material to show the people of the gathering were armed with firearms. “So the question that they used firearms does not arise at all. There is a possibility the fatal injury caused to constable (Cobra commando) Dev Prakash was due to cross firing by his own squad members,” it said.
Also read: SC Order for SIT Investigation Into Edesmetta Firing Brings Hope for Justice
The report, which also pointed lapses into the probe conducted by local police, said, to avoid a repeat of such incidents, personnel should be trained so that they are familiar with social conditions, religious festivals and geographical condition of Bastar.
The report also called for strengthening the intelligence gathering mechanism and equipping the security forces with gadgets like bullet proof jackets and night vision devices.
The commission’s findings were presented in the state cabinet meeting on September 8 last year.
Even before the commission tabled its report, accounts recorded by activists and a report by the Human Rights Forum called ‘The Terrible Cost of an Inhuman Counter Insurgency’ had essayed similar findings.
As per the government’s action-taken report, continuous efforts are being made to strengthen the intelligence gathering mechanism and it is proposed to set up a counter intelligence cell.
“The state General Administration department has constituted a five-member committee to make recommendations for ensuring relief to affected families in the firing incident,” the action-taken report said.
The CBI is also probing the incident, following a Supreme Court order in May 2019, after hearing a writ petition filed by Chhattisgarh-based activist Degree Prasad Chauhan.
(With PTI inputs)