Condemning the “illegal abduction and detention” of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) spokesman Azad, human rights activists and writers on Friday demanded that the arrested leader be produced before a court of law.
In a joint statement, they also demanded that the Central government immediately halt its war on people, named Operation Green Hunt, and initiate dialogue with organisations concerned.
Citing information by the CPI (Maoist)'s Central Committee to poet Varavara Rao that Azad remained untraceable from March 12, they said there was a strong possibility that the spokesman was arrested near Mumbai on the day and kept in illegal custody by Andhra Pradesh police.
“In grave danger”
“Given the history of the Andhra Pradesh police and its special anti-naxal force Greyhounds and intelligence wing of the police in gross human rights violations, whereby, it has repeatedly resorted to fake encounters and custodial killings, there are grounds to believe that his life is in grave danger.” It said last week the media reported that two senior CPI(Maoist) leaders, Sakhamuri Appa Rao and Kondal Reddy, who were arrested by Andhra Pradesh police from Maharashtra, were “abducted, subjected to brutal torture and killed in cold blood.”
Police claim
Their bodies were taken to two separate Andhra Pradesh districts, with police claiming they were killed in ‘encounters.'
“Such illegal acts of repression have been regularly committed by the Andhra Pradesh police in the name of countering naxalism, and Azad might also meet a similar fate,” the statement said.
The signatories included writer Arundhati Roy, Supreme Court advocate Prashant Bhushan, and People's Union for Democratic Rights' Asish Gupta.
