The photograph of two security personnel carrying the body of a woman cadre killed in an encounter with Maoists in West Bengal on Wednesday (June 17) was shocking. Is there no better method of carrying a body?
B. Subrahmanyam,
Guntur
***
The image of the woman's body, suspended from a stick like an animal, was shocking. Our blood boiled when a BSF jawan was killed by the Bangladesh border police and his body carried in a similar manner a few years ago. We should be equally angry now.
Our men in uniform need to behave with dignity towards their fellow citizens if they are to command respect. While dealing with the problem of Naxalism, human rights cannot be given the go-by.
D. Nandini,
Quebec
***
That the body of a person — Maoist or no Maoist, male or female — can be carried like that of an animal is appalling. Dignity in death is a human right. Every such act of inhumanness shames us collectively.
Sandhya Sundar,
Chennai
***
The photograph not only brings to mind the image of pre-historic hunters but also points to the disregard for the dignity of the dead. No doubt the security forces face a difficult task in tackling Maoists. But they ought to remember that they represent a superior moral order on which the state power is legitimised.
Saurav Jhalli,
New Delhi
***
The picture is most shocking. It seems our security forces can never be humane in their approach. No wonder the kin of those killed in encounters and raids retaliate in the same manner.
R.G. Khan,
Aligarh
***
I remember seeing only dead animals being carried away like that. I grew up in the 1960s near Naxalbari in West Bengal. It was acute exploitation that gave birth to the naxals. The woman in the picture believed in her cause and chose to die for it. Maybe she was not right. But we need not treat the rebels in such a gory manner.
S.K. Som,
Salem
***
The photo of the security forces carrying the body of the woman Maoist with her hands and feet tied to a pole can be viewed only with revulsion. They could have used a makeshift stretcher with bamboos. They should be instructed to avoid insulting the dead, at least in future.
M.K.B. Nambiar,
Mahe
***
The photograph speaks volumes of how the Indian state views all those it considers a threat to internal security. The other photo of the captured Adivasi, barely past his adolescence, bears the face that could stand in for a large number of disenfranchised, poor and desperate tribals, treated as enemies of the state for merely wanting to lead a life of dignity.
S.V. Rajadurai & V. Geetha,
Kotagiri
***
I was shocked beyond words to see the photograph of the security personnel carrying the body of the Maoist woman.
This is perhaps how they are trained to work. Probably, this is how they carry their own colleagues killed in such encounters.
N. Nagarajan,
Secunderabad
***
The security forces were aware that they were hunting down the ultras. Should they not have kept stretchers with them to carry the dead and the injured?
K. Bala Sundram,
Dharmapuri
