The Jharkhand High Court has expressed strong displeasure over the role of the state police in the alleged forced surrender of 514 tribal youths who were purportedly branded as fake Naxalites. The court took serious exception to the fact that a junior-ranking police officer filed the affidavit in such a sensitive matter instead of a senior official.
A division bench headed by Chief Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan orally observed that in cases of this magnitude, affidavits must be filed by senior police officers themselves so that the true facts emerge and the matter can be examined thoroughly.
The bench directed that the Director General of Police (DGP) of the State must now file a personal affidavit in the case.
Appearing for the petitioner, advocate Rajeev Kumar argued that the affidavit was intentionally filed by a DSP-rank officer to shield senior officials from accountability.
The public interest litigation has been filed by the Jharkhand Council for Democratic Rights, seeking an independent inquiry into allegations that 514 tribal youths were coerced into staged surrenders after being falsely labelled as Naxalites.
In an earlier hearing, the High Court had asked the Centre and the State to clarify whether these youths were kept at the old jail compound on Jail Road in Ranchi and trained under the pretext of securing jobs in the CRPF. The court also sought an explanation on whether such training had any legal validity.
The petition alleges that the youths were lured with the promise of employment in the CRPF but were later shown as surrendered Naxalites in official records.
The petitioner has further accused senior state police officials of spending crores of rupees to project the operation as a major achievement before the Union Home Minister Amit Shah. As a result, 514 unsuspecting tribal youths were allegedly exploited under the guise of providing them jobs.
The case will be taken up for further hearing after the DGP submits the court-mandated affidavit.
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