NAXAL MENACE: Centre challenges SC order on SPOs!

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zeenews.india.com / Last Updated: Saturday, August 13, 2011, 16:24.

New Delhi: The government has moved the Supreme Court asking it to review and recall two crucial clauses of the July 5 order banning Special Police Officers (SPOs) in the anti-Naxal operations in states like Chhattisgarh.

In the petition, which was filed yesterday, the Home Ministry sought the recall of the two paras, 75 (ii) and 76, on the ground that they were against the spirit of the Constitution.

Para 75 (ii) of the apex court's order asks the "Union of India to cease and desist, forthwith, from using any of its funds in supporting, directly or indirectly the recruitment of SPOs for the purposes of engaging in any form of counter-insurgency activities against Maoist/Naxalite groups".

Para 76 of the order held the "appointment of SPOs to perform any of the duties of regular police officers, other than those specified in Sections 23(1)(h) and 23(1)(i) of Chhattisgarh Police Act, 2007, to be unconstitutional".

Sources said, the Home Ministry has pointed out that under the Constitution, policing was exclusively in the domain of the executive and, judiciary could not interfere in it.

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http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/centre-challenges-sc-order-on-spos_725996.html

NAXAL MENACE: In Dantewada, posters call for punishment to SPOs!

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AMAN SETHI / The Hindu / DANTEWADA, July 8, 2011.

In this file photo, a group of tribal men, armed with bows and arrows, ride on a jeep to attend an awareness program against Maoist rebels in Penkonda village of Dantewada district - AP.

Posters found along the Jagadalpur-Konta National Highway 221 in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district have singled out 12 Special Police Officers (SPOs) and police constables for punishment at the hands of “the people” and the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army of the Communist Party of India (Maoist).

These posters brand these men as “enemies of the people” who shall never be forgiven and shall be hunted down by the PLGA and put to death.

SPOs are individuals employed by the district police on a temporary basis and have been deployed at the forefront of Chhattisgarh’s fight against Maoists. However, they have also been accused of human rights violations in several instances and have been variously described as an ill-trained and unaccountable force by rights activists.

With recent S.C. ruling that private armies are unconstitutional and to be disbanded, they all would be disarmed and disbanded.

Once, acting as a buffer between the Naxals and the Security Forces, they now will be receiving the vengeance attack from the Naxals!

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http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2211363.ece

NAXAL MENACE: Supreme Court order deals a big blow to Centre's anti-Maoist operations!

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By Krishnakumar Padmanabhan | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA / Published: Wednesday, Jul 6, 2011, 10:30 IST. 

Tuesday’s Supreme Court judgment directing the Chhattisgarh government to immediately stop recruiting local tribal people as Special Police Officers for operations against Maoists will be a major operational blow for the Centre’s anti-Maoist policy, state government officials and security officers have told DNA.

Officially, though, the Chhattisgarh government put up a brave face, saying it will seek legal opinion before deciding on the next course of action.

“We have not yet gotten a copy of the judgment,” said Baijendra Kumar, principal secretary to the chief minister, Chhattisgarh.

“Once we get a copy, we will study it and consult legal experts before taking appropriate action. We will respect the decision of the Supreme Court.”

But speaking on condition of anonymity, senior paramilitary officers, state government officials and state police officers were unanimous that the apex court’s decision is a major setback to the Union home ministry’s anti-Maoist operations, and that it will be a shot in the arm for the Maoists.

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http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_supreme-court-order-deals-a-big-blow-to-centre-s-anti-maoist-operations_1562746

HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS: PUCL are cogs of democracy!

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Groups like PUCL are cogs of democracy

The task of forging solidarities to fight against repression by the State must begin with a spirited defence of civil liberties

Manisha Sethi

THE PEOPLE’S Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) may be banned in Chhattisgarh soon. Flogging the old and almost dead horse of the organisation supplying arms to Maoists, the state’s Home Minister Nanki Ram Kanwar has been threatening to invoke the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act against it. Is this simply the bluster of a frustrated minister whose government couldn’t keep a good doctor in jail despite its best efforts? Will the banning of PUCL be an act of sweet revenge for the Raman Singh government or will it be the final push against the voices of opposition that rose in defiance to the state’s genocide against its own people in the form of Salwa Judum?

Illustration: Anand Naorem

Given the state government’s record — the tearing down of Vanvasi Chetna Ashram (VCA) houses and huts, the hounding of Himanshu Kumar, the arrest of VCA activists Kopa Kunjam and Sukhnath Oyame, and of course the sedition case against Binayak Sen being cases in point — there is all likelihood of the ban being pushed through sooner than later. There are reports that the Special Intelligence Branch of the Police (SIB) has already begun the process of collecting detailed reports on the various activities of the organisation from all the 18 districts of the state, along with suggestions to impose a ban.

Such actions throw up a very important question. Why do our governments fear these activists? When democracy is reduced to five-yearly rituals — and Parliament and state Assemblies are the only legitimate arena of politics — dissent can only be criminal. Or at best, decorative. PUCLs can be the pretty props of Indian democracy. Their purpose is largely ornamental, adding to themela and mélange of the biggest democracy of the world. Till they begin to hold up a mirror to the grisliness of the Indian State. Hollowed out of all real meaning, democracy is a bare shell, bereft of justice and security of life and livelihood

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http://tehelka.com/story_main50.asp?filename=Ne250611PROSCONS.asp