New Delhi: The Supreme Court today slammed
the Chattisgarh government for raising the "bogey" of Naxalism to discredit those raising issues of human rights violations even as the Centre said it has evolved a Rs 7,300 crore package to develop Naxal-affected regions of the country.
The apex court also expressed displeasure at the
Chattisgarh government's decision to exhume bodies of 10
tribals allegedly killed by the local police in a village of
Dantewada district for fresh postmortem without its
permission.
"Suppose somebody fights their (victims) case, so
what does that imply? First you say they are Naxals, then you
say they are sympathisers, then you say they are sympathisers
of sympathisers.. why all these innuendos?" a bench of
Justices B Sudershan Reddy and S S Nijjar asked senior counsel
Ranjit Kumar appearing for the state.
The bench made the remarks after the counsel sought to
infer that human rights activist Himanshu Kumar, who moved the
apex court for protection to eyewitness of alleged police
killings, was a sympathiser of Naxalites.
"What do you mean by sympathisers? "Sympathy is
fighting for their cause (victims). Nobody is advocating their
cause. They are not saying their action should be condoned.
"You mean to say they (human rights activists) should
not be concerned with human rights and fundamental rights.
Don't keep bringing this Naxal issue. The only issue before
this court is whether any such incident has happened or not,"
the bench snapped at the counsel.
-PTI
First Published: Monday, February 22, 2010, 23:32