Inquiry on,cops say no option in combat zone

State home secretary,Samar Ghosh said the MHA did not issue any instruction on this issue,but a suo motu investigation has been ordered. “We have asked for reports from the police about the circumstances under which this happened,” he said.

State DGP Bhupinder Singh said: “I have not been communicated anything on the Ministry of Home Affairs objections on this issue.”

But even so,in its initial report,the police said the crude method had to be adopted as the encounter took place inside forests,about 3 km from metalled roads.

“We never had any intention to show any disrespect to the dead,” said Manoj Verma,SP,West Midnapore. “The jawans carried the bodies out of the forest while intense firing was on. They had no option as the Maoists always try to remove the bodies. The main road was three kilometers from the battle zone. The jawans did not get any time to make bamboo stretchers.”

“It was a combat zone,where everything cannot be done according to norms,” the DGP said. “Combat zone experience and thoughts from an office room may not always match. Probably even a policeman killed in the encounter would have received similar treatment.”

On his part,Vijay Raman,Special DG,CRPF,said: “I am not going to accept that under any circumstances human bodies should be carried in that manner. Whatever harm the Maoists might have done to society,the fight ends with their death.”

If it is proved that the CRPF jawans were carrying the bodies in that manner,he will take stringent action against the perpetrators,Raman said. “I am open to any kind of inquiry.”

But from the photographs,it does not appear as though the men carrying the bodies belong to the CRPF,he added.

The CRPF jawans do not sport long sideburns,which the men carrying the bodies did have. “Then,some of them were wearing T-shirts,but our jawans cannot do that in a battlefield,” he said.

“Moreover none of them were wearing bullet-proof jackets,which is mandatory for CRPF jawans in a combat zone,” he said.

Regarding the procedure of removing bodies,Raman said: “The standard procedure is to cover bodies with clothes,place it between two bamboo poles and carry it like a stretcher.”