Police: Who will fight terror?

By S A Ishaqui
Hyderabad,Feb. 6: “Who will come forward to take part in operations like in the terror attacks in Mumbai,” a police officer asked in the face of the AP High Court ruling that ordered FIRs to be filed on police officials who participate in encounter killings.There were security worries too. “Maoists target officials involved in operations,” an officer said, explaining the rationale of not naming those who take part in operations.“Now if the names are exposed then they will be targeted easily,” an official said. “Vyas and Umesh Chandra were gunned down. Officials become easy targets,” he said.Legal experts say the judgment, which has wide ramifications, will come in force immediately and the government would not be able to request the court to keep it in abeyance till an appeal.The senior criminal lawyer, Mr C. Padmanbha Reddy, amicus curiae in the case, welcomed the verdict and said that from now on any death caused by police action would come under the purview of section 302 of the IPC. Police cannot escape by claiming right of self defence.“I feel that from now on no police officer will resort to fake killings,” Mr Reddy said. “Even a constable will think twice before opening fire on a person on the orders of his superiors.”Mr Bojja Tarakam, another senior counsel, said that it was an amazing verdict after 40 years of struggle by rights organisations.It had retrospective affect and would enable people to ask police to reopen the old cases, he said. Revolutionary writer Varavara Rao said 6,000 Maoists were killed in fake encounters in the state. “We will launch a struggle to reopen most of the cases,” Mr Rao added.