Indian home ministry brought to task

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a notice to the home ministry for alleged violation of rights after taking cognisance of reports of security men trussing bodies of Naxals killed to poles, The Hindustan Times reported on Tuesday.

The commission has sought a reply from the home secretary within a month, i.e. by July 27, an NHRC statement issued on Tuesday said.

The NHRC took cognisance of media reports depicting photographs of security men carrying bodies of Naxalites, including women, with their hands and feet tied to bamboo poles after an anti-Naxal operation in West Bengal’s West Midnapore district.

The statement said that “the reports, if true, raise a serious issue of violation of human rights of the victims”.

In a major success, security forces had gunned down 12 Maoists, including three women, in a fierce encounter in West Midnapore on June 16, almost a year after anti-Naxal operations were launched in the district in West Bengal.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 30^th, 2010.