Another fake encounter in Chhattisgarh? Villager crucified, beaten up, shot

Special Correspondent

NewsBits.in

Raipur: Activists have cried foul over another ‘fake encounter’ in Ganglur of Maoist-infested Bijapur district in Chhattisgarh, saying that an innocent villager was crucified before being shot and branded as Maoist insurgent.

Demand for immediate fair inquiry into the alleged fake encounter has been sought by the activists.

Reports suggest that Situ Hemla of Palnar got killed because he had same name as a dreaded Maoist commander active in the region. The Bijapur Police has however claimed that there wasn’t any mistake in identity and the killed man was indeed a Maoist.

Markam Hidme whose recent killing in Sukma district caused huge controversy in was also reportedly a victim of mistaken identity, reports further suggested.

A three-member fact-finding team of People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) and Women against Sexual Violence and State Repression (WSS) that visited Palnar has said that the tribal man who was killed was a common villager who was pulled away by police while working in agriculture field and security forces before his wife and mother.

Situ Hemla was then taken into nearby forest, crucified to a tree with nails, beaten up badly and shot dead. When Situ’s mother Somli tried to protest, she was hit by gun butt, Situ’s wife Laxmi reportedly told the fact-finding team.

The fact finding team inclusive of Rinchin, Shalini Gera and Shivani Taneja has highly condemned the ‘killing of the unarmed, innocent Situ’ and has sought detailed investigation into the incident.

The team has also said that women in the village claimed that the police and security forces misbehaved with them, using abusive language and threatening to rape them. 

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