DNA Edit: Major faux pax – The Pune police have cut a sorry figure

With the Supreme Court’s Wednesday order that the five people with alleged Maoist connections be kept under house arrest till the next hearing on September 6, the spotlight has shifted on the incompetence of the Pune police. The law-enforcers have cut a sorry figure because of their failure to pass judicial scrutiny. The charges levelled by the police against these individuals are serious. The accused were picked up during raids carried out in Delhi, Faridabad, Goa, Mumbai, Ranchi and Hyderabad. 

They were booked under various sections of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (2012) — an anti-terror legislation — and the Indian Penal Code for their supposed links with Maoist groups. If proven guilty under this Act, these very people could be in prison for a long time. Given the gravity of the case, the Pune police should have done a thorough spade work and furnished incontrovertible evidence. Instead, in their hurry to carry out arrests, they jumped the gun to disastrous effect. 

However, there is no denying the fact that Naxalism is a growing threat in this country and poses an even graver risk than cross-border terrorism. According to the Home Ministry’s 2014 data, more than 12,000 people, including security forces, have been killed by Naxals in nine states badly hit by Red terror over 20 years. The killings had taken place in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. The year 2010 proved to be the deadliest for security forces and civilians as 1,005 lives were lost in Naxalite violence — the horrific Dantewada ambush that led to the death of 75 CRPF men and one Chhattisgarh police constable, the Gyaneshwari Express derailment, the Dantewada bus bombing and the Silda camp attack in Midnapore, among other incidents.

For the CRPF jawans, the long days and nights in Naxal-dominated forests have had devastating effects. In the last two years, deaths due to heart attacks, depression, suicides, malaria, dengue and other such reasons have been 15 times more over operational duties. Moreover, the nature of threats too have changed. Red extremists are increasingly resorting to Improvised Explosive Device in their battle against security personnel. This year, till August, 55 security personnel, 170 Maoists and 76 civilians have died in skirmishes. 

While there is still no definitive proof of urban naxalism, reports of sleeper cells and Maoist ideologues inciting the youth to take up arms and resort to violence crop up every once in a while. Coming back to the case in hand, the next date of hearing will add to clarity since the apex court has issued notices to the Centre and Maharashtra government, seeking their replies. The police and the government must be mindful of the fact that those arrested are prominent rights activists, professors and lawyers and not petty criminals. If the police are not careful, this issue may snowball into a national political challenge.