Raipur books CRPF cop

BY SUDHIR K. SINGH

BHOPAL/RAIPUR

May 25: Acting swiftly in damage control, the Chhattisgarh government authorities have booked a CRPF cop under section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code for killing, accidentally or otherwise, on Friday a woman and a child in a ‘salwa judum’ refugee camp at Cherpal village in the Bijapur district. Forensic experts, police sources said, were examining the evidence to ascertain the precise reasons which provoked the firing.

The official stand taken by CRPF was that the unfortunate deaths had occurred during an operation to flush out a bunch of Naxalites holed up in a nearby building. DGP Vishwa Ranjan, however, told this newspaper that they decided to take prompt action to avoid giving the impression that the authorities were hesitant to punish cops found guilty of misconduct or dereliction of duty. Especially, since human rights bodies were running a "malicious" campaign to discredit the "successful" anti-Maoist salwa judum movement. The state government, he said, had taken the incident very seriously, and was determined to send a strong message to the force that they would not be allowed to become a law unto themselves regardless of the provocation or the sensitive nature of their duties.

The DGP said there were a number of versions of the incident floating around. According to one theory, trigger-happy CRPF men in an inebriated condition opened fire when some women in the 1,200 strong relief camp protested against attempts of sexual harassment. Strangely enough, this charge had been levelled by local salwa judum leaders. But the surrounding evidence made this hard to believe. A more probable explanation was that the CRPF men barged in to ensure that there was no Naxalites hiding inside. The tribals were therefore ordered to come out and assemble in the vicinity. Men and women were asked to sit separately. It was at this point that someone tried to escape, and the cop in question pressed the trigger.

He admitted that the incident had occurred at a bad time. Every effort would be made by HR bodies to paint the police in bad light.