SIT Probe Into 'Anti-Naxal Operations' By Police Undermines Federal Structure, Permitted Only In Exceptional Cases: Chhattisgarh High Court

The Chhattisgarh High Court has held that anti-naxal operations, being part of regular counter-insurgency measures undertaken by State or Central Security forces, cannot be subjected to investigation by SIT, unless exceptional circumstances warrant such intervention.

Permitting a SIT probe into regular field operations would not only undermine the federal structure of policing powers but also set a precedent inconsistent with established legal and administrative principles, it said. 

The Court thus dismissed a man's plea seeking constitution of SIT from outside the State to investigate the alleged fake encounter of his father–purported to be a Maoist–by security personnel.

A division bench of Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Bibhu Datta Guru in its order said:

"Anti-naxal operations, being part of regular counter-insurgency measures undertaken by the State or Central Security forces, cannot be subjected to investigation by the SIT, as prayed by the petitioner, unless exceptional circumstances warrant such intervention. Routine operations conducted by security personnel in Naxal-affected areas aimed at maintaining law and order and combating insurgency fall within the domain of the State Police forces and Central Paramilitary Agencies operating under lawful authority. Directing investigation by SIT into such regular field operations would not only undermine the federal structure of policing powers but also set a precedent inconsistent with established legal and administrative principles. Only in instances where credible allegations of excesses, misuse of power, or violations of human rights arise, and where an impartial probe is deemed necessary to uphold justice, can the judiciary consider entrusting such matters to the SIT but no such circumstances exists in the present case. Hence, no such relief can be granted to the petitioner". 

The court further noted that it was not disputed that the deceased was not in touch with his family since 2007, when he left his house. It was also not disputed that the deceased was a naxalite and as many as 29 cases were registered in Chhattisgarh, 2 in Telangana and 6 in Maharashtra. 

The court noted that the plea indicated a "mere assumption" on the part of the petitioner and his mother that the deceased was subjected to torture by the Police/security personnel and thereafter executed in a cold blooded manner and a fake story of encounter has been concocted. The court said that the petitioner's mother is not an expert to say that the injuries on the deceased body were caused intentionally by police. 

It also noted that the State had followed the guidelines as mandated by the Apex Court in People's Union for Civil Liberties case as well as guidelines issued by the NHRC.

It noted that the criminal antecedents of the deceased have also been detailed in the State's reply which was not rebutted by the petitioner.

"Merely on the basis of certain injuries on the body of the deceased, the encounter which took place between the Police and the Maoist cannot be held to be an act of extra judicial killing. Even if no police personnel was injured, that cannot lead to a conclusion that no such encounter had taken place...On specific query with regard to involvement of the deceased in Maoist activities, Mr. Gonsalves does not have any reply and submits that the deceased could or could not have been a part of the said banned organization and reiterates that no FIR has been registered against the security personnel on the request made by the petitioner and his mother," the court added

The court also noted that there had been been recovery of "arms, ammunition, presence of nitrate in the palm" of the deceased which points to the fact that he had opened fired upon the security personnel and in the said encounter, he got shot dead.

It said:

"Encounters in Naxal-dominated zones are military-style anti-insurgency operations. It is not uncommon for few deaths or one-sided casualties due to surprise or superior tactical position. Therefore, the absence of police casualties cannot by itself imply falsity. The guidelines issued by the Apex Court in People's Union for Civil Liberties (supra) are procedural safeguards but any defect / lapses / non-compliance alone does not automatically imply that the encounter was fake...This petition is based purely on the apprehension of the petitioner and his mother that the deceased did not die in an anti-naxal operation but was firstly arrested/taken into custody, tortured and then killed by the security personnel. However, there is no material on record to substantiate the said allegation and on the contrary, the reply/return filed by the State clearly discloses that the deceased alongwith other person, died in antinaxal operation being carried by the State's security forces." 

Noting that the petitioner had failed to make out a case warranting court interference, the Court said that the petitioner had harped on the issue that "there were three puncture wounds" on the body of the deceased which was caused by the security personnel after his arrest after which he was executed.

The court said,

"Except for making a self serving statement, there is nothing on record to show or establish that such injuries were result of any act of the security personnel. Forests are the safe haven for the naxalites/maoists and most of the antinaxal operation takes place in dense forest where the terrain is very harsh. A security personnel deployed in the remote forest areas or a naxalite operating in difficult terrain may sustain various kinds of injuries on their body which may be physical or mechanical injuries. Injuries such as bruises and abrasions from slips, trips, and falls on rocks or roots, sprains, strains, and dislocations from from stepping in holes, climbing uneven slopes, or carrying heavy gear, fractures from falls (trees, cliffs, ravines) or heavy objects like branches, head or spinal Injuries, if falling or struck by debris. What was the real cause of the punctured wound sustained by the deceased is difficult to ascertain and mere speculations can be made with respect to it but when an allegation of torture by the security personnel is made by the petitioner, the same needs to be substantiated, which is totally missing in this case.

It also said that the whereabouts of the deceased were not known to the petitioner or his mother and they only came to know through media reports when the dead body was found; thus it can be assumed that the "deceased had been actively involved in naxal activities" and was operating in the forest areas where such injuries are not uncommon.

Notably on September 26 the Supreme Court had directed that the dead body of the petitioner's father must be preserved in a mortuary till the High Court decides the writ petition filed by his son.

Case title: RAJA CHANDRA Vs STATE OF CHHATTISGARH

WPCR 521/2025

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