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

INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 Andhra Pradesh
Mandal in Nalgonda district accusing
them of being police informer.57
On 7 March 2004, alleged PWG
cadres shot dead a Telugu Desam Party
leader, Yenugu Malla Reddy on the
outskirts of Baswapuram in Bhongir
Mandal, suspecting him to be a police
informer. 58
On 18 March 2004, alleged Naxals
shot dead M Venkat Raju, husband of
Tribal Welfare Minister M Manikumari,
when he alighted from his car for a cup of
tea at a roadside hotel at Paderu in
Visakhapatnam district. Raju, the
Madugula Mandal TDP president, was
allegedly on the Naxal hit list. 59
On 27 March 2004, alleged PWG
Naxalites shot dead Puttapka Komrelli, a
TDP Mandal level leader, who was the
husband of a woman sarpanch, at
Ansanpally village in Malhar Mandal. The
Naxals waylaid Komrelli while he was
proceeding to Manthani on his bike and
fired 12 rounds killing him on the spot. 60
On 13 April 2004, alleged PWG
Naxalites shot dead TDP leader and vicepresident
of Telakapally Mandal Parishad
Sugunakar Rao at his house. 61
On 1 May 2004, a former Naxalite
named Venkatadri alias Murali of
Sakibanda village was gunned down by
allged PWG cadres in the hillocks situated
near Sakibanda panchayat in
Chinnamandem in Cuddapah District. 62
On the afternoon of 6 May 2004, two
alleged Naxalites came to the house of
MTPC Member Palthi Rajarao in Palthi
Thanda, near Parvedula village limits
10
under Peddavura mandal of Nalgonda
district and took him out on the pretext of
talking with him. He was shot on the
temple and chest at point blank range,
killing him on the spot. 63
On 14 May 2004, alleged Naxalites
shot dead an ex-sarpanch and mandal
Telugu Desam party activist, B.
Subramanyam Reddy, in Bodevandlapalle
village under Piler police limits in Chittoor
district. 64
VIII. Special Focus: Starvation
deaths of the farmers
More than 1,381 farmers have
reportedly committed suicide65 between
1998 and 2004 according to official
figures. Unofficial sources put the deaths
at over 3,000. 66 Within a fortnight after
Congress took over on 14 May 2004, more
than 100 farmers committed suicide. 67 In
the first 200 days, there were reports of
death of more than 2,00 farmers through
suicide and starvation. 68
In May 2003, National Human Rights
Commission had made specific
recommendations to address the farmers’
plight. But little measures were taken to
implement them. On 7 May 2004, the
National Human Rights Commission’s
Special Rapporteur reportedly visited the
Jogaiahpalli village of Thimmapur
mandal under Karimnagar district to
investigate the reported starvation death
of a villager, Mamidi Ambadas. 69 Taking
suo moto cognizance of newspaper
reports about fresh cases of suicides by
debt-ridden farmers in the state, including