NAGPUR: The Bilaspur High Court on Friday ordered re-postmortem of a 13-year-old boy who was killed by security forces in an alleged encounter and branded as a Maoist on December 16 in insurgency-hit Bijapur district of South Chhattisgarh.
The Bijapur district police had claimed that they killed “a uniformed Maoist” in an exchange of fire in Metapal area under Gangaloor police station limits. The body was later identified to be of Somaru Pottam from Metapal village. However, residents of the village and family members of Somaru, alleged that he was a young boy and not a Maoist.
“The High Court has ordered re-post mortem of the deceased within three days. It also ordered that the post mortem be conducted at Jagdalpur’s Maharani Hospital under the supervision of Bastar Divisional Commissioner,” advocate Shalini Gera, who represented Somaru’s family, said.
Somaru’s father, Kumma Pottam accused the security forces of “brutal and extra-judicial killing” of his son — who was “unarmed and dressed in ordinary village cloths” — in the name of anti-Naxal operation.
