annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights

INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 Andhra Pradesh
an independent cease-fire monitoring is in
place, peace remained on the edge.
The cease-fire with the Naxalites
helped to reduce human rights violations
during the second half of the year.
However, two and half decades of
insurgency, which has already claimed
about 6,000 lives, 2 has institutionalised the
brutality of the police. Andhra Pradesh
Police personnel have been responsible for
arbitrary arrest, torture, rape and summary
executions in fake encounters. The newly
elected State government failed to take
action on as many as 47 lock-up deaths
and 732 incidents of police firing in which
inquiries have been ordered. Some of the
cases have been pending for more than a
decade since 1993. 3
The State police authorities refused to
take action against the culprits despite the
High Court judgement of October 2003
pertaining to the custodial death of
Musalaiah. He was picked up by the police
from Rajahmundry town of East Godavari
district on 8 August 1999 on charges of
selling illicit liquor and was tortured to
death. Only after the victims’ family
members assisted by human rights activist,
M Subba Rao approached the High Court
again for contempt of court that the
Superintendent of Police, East Godavari
district suspended 10 policemen pursuant
to the fresh direction of the High Court in
July 2004. 4
The Dalits continued to suffer
violence at the hands of the upper caste
Hindus and denied access to places of
worship, water wells etc.
2
The indigenous peoples, Adivasis,
also continued to suffer from
discrimination in the administration of
justice, denial of access to health care and
denial of the right to land. On 8 March
2004 the Supreme Court took strong
exception to the application of Criminal
Procedure Code, 1898, instead of the
CrPC, 1973 in the Scheduled Areas. This
led to more period of incarceration than
provided in the conviction orders for more
than 3,000 prisoners in the Scheduled
Areas. 5
The Naxalites were responsible for
serious violations of international
humanitarian law including torture and
killing of alleged police informers, political
activists and socalled class enemies.
In the first 200 days of the Congress-
TRS alliance government, there were
reports of death of more than 2,00 farmers
through suicide and starvation. 6 According
to official sources more than 1,381 farmers
have reportedly committed suicide7 between 1998-2004. Unofficial sources
put the deaths at over 3,000. 8
On 1 November 2004, the state
government announced its decision to
establish the State Human Rights
Commission. 9 But at the end of the year no
concrete measure was taken.
II. Violations by security forces
i. Arbitrary, summary and extrajudicial
executions
Arbitrary, summary and extrajudicial
executions have been rampant in Andhra
Pradesh. The procedures issued by