Why we think giving offices of responsibility to SRP Kalluri without full investigation into his service tenure is a betrayal of democracy
We are shocked and dismayed by the recent appointment of SRP Kalluri to two positions of responsibility — as Inspector General, Anti Corruption Bureau and Economic Offences Wing – of Chhattisgarh state government. SRP Kalluri, in his service tenure, has a track record of engaging in human rights violations accompanied with a brazen impunity that has exemplified him as an officer who has scant respect for the ‘Rule of Law.’
Operations by police and security forces under his leadership have included many fake encounters, large-scale sexual violence on women, fake surrenders, arson, looting, arbitrary arrests and forced displacement. Indeed, the “Kalluri way” of handling counterinsurgency has been illegal, counterproductive and has eroded the basic trust that citizens need to have in the police and government.
There is evidence to suggest that Mr. Kalluri has not only led such operations but also participated in them. He was accused of having allegedly raped a tribal woman in Sarguja district when he was serving as Superintendent of Police, Balrampur, in 2007 In 2011, he was transferred out of Dantewada for his role in the burning, looting, raping and killings in Tadmetla, Timmapuram and Morpalli villages of Sukma district while he was Senior Superintendent of Police, Dantewada. Leaked CBI documents also directly implicate Mr. Kalluri in the arson at Tadmetla village, and he himself has admitted that he was in charge of the operations. In 2017, he was discharged of his duties as Inspector General, Bastar, after national government bodies such as the National Human Rights Commission took cognisance of his direct role in police and vigilante activities that led to human rights violations in South Chhattisgarh.
His strategy of forming and using vigilante groups to further hidden agendas was effective in eroding the social fabric of democracy and destroying several lives. Despite the Supreme Court verdict in 2011 that ruled against the use of Adivasi youth in counter-insurgency operations while calling for the disbanding of the Salwa Judum, Kalluri was quoted as saying that the members of the District Reserve Guards are “former Naxalites of lower cadres, Maoist sympathisers, villagers displaced during Salwa Judum, who are fondly called sons of soil, strongly passionate to reclaim their lost land from rebels.” In stark contrast, the judgement warns against precisely this, saying that using Adivasi youth to counter the Naxalite movement would be “tantamount to sowing of suicide pills that could divide and destroy society”(Para 20). Para 17-18 of the judgement points out that “Such misguided policies, albeit vehemently and muscularly asserted by some policy makers, are necessarily contrary to the vision and imperatives of our Constitution…” The judgment goes on to say that the use of local Adivasi youth in the identification of Maoists or Maoist sympathizers would not only result in the branding of persons unrelated to Maoist activities as Maoists or their sympathizers but would also “almost certainly vitiate the atmosphere in those villages, lead to situations of grave violation of human rights of innocent people, driving even more to take up arms against the state.” (Para 51) It is telling that Kalluri publicly declared his disagreement with this view. He claimed that activists had been misleading the Hon’ble Supreme Court.
The policies and methods that Kalluri embodies has built and reinforced a culture of impunity and unaccountability that outlive his tenure. He went after pro-democracy articulations with malicious vengeance and his response to public criticism was far from democratic and at times even overstepped the requirements of basic decency. During his tenure, all those who attempted to safeguard constitutional rights were sought to be silenced by vicious labelling, smear campaigns, defamatory tactics and physical attacks. Such a dictatorial response has a lingering negative effect and instils deep fear and prejudice amongst people.
He has not only inflicted great violence and broken the law on multiple occasions, he has also done great harm to the institutions of policing by reinforcing the negative qualities attributed to the institution itself. A policeman is supposed to be upright, honest and law-abiding, qualities that Kalluri demonstrably lacks. If the people stop trusting the police, and the police itself becomes a lawless institution, we create more reasons for the people to move away from the promise of constitutional democracy.
One expects positions of responsibility to be given to officers who have a track record that is above board and who invite confidence. We ask the Congress Government, what is it in Mr. Kalluri’s service tenure that merits this treatment? We recall that not so long ago leading Congress leaders, while in opposition, had condemned the actions of Mr. Kalluri in strongest terms. To our minds, what we are seeing today is a continuation of political patronage that has enabled him to be promoted repeatedlydespite having a career marked with serious blemishes. Injustice somewhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Amongst the undersigned are professionals who are social workers, human rights activists,journalists, lawyers, social scientists, educators, members of civil society groups, students,and others. Many of them have suffered at the hands of the often vindictive actions adopted by the police under the leadership of Mr. Kalluri. For every one of the undersigned there are many others in the villages who have suffered miserably and would sign this statement more than willingly. In the interest of fairness and justice, we demand that the government set up a Special Investigating Team, under the leadership of a retired Supreme Court Judge, to investigate into the crimes that Mr. Kalluri has been accused of, time-and-again, while holding positions of power in north and south Chhattisgarh. As in all such cases, he should be suspended pending the results of the enquiry.
Endorsed:
1. Ardhendu Sen, IAS (retd) former Chief Secretary, West Bengal
2. Amitabha Pande, IAS (retd) former Secretary, National Integration Council
3. G Balagopal, IAS (retd) Advisor, UNICEF
4. MG Devasahayam, IAS (retd)
5. V Ramani, IAS (retd) former Director, YASHADA
6. Dr KS Subramaniam, IPS (retd) Delhi
7. C Balakrishnan, IAS (retd) former Secretary Coal,, GoI
8. Sundar Burra, IAS (retd)
9. Keshav Desiraju, IAS (retd) former Health Secretary, GoI
10. J Harinarayan, IAS (retd), former Chief Secretary Andhra Pradesh
11. Sumantra Guha, IAS (retd)
12. KP Fabian IFS (retd) former Ambassador to Italy
13. Arun Kumar IAS (retd)
14. Abha Bhaiya, Jagori (Rural), HP
15. Prof Sujata Patel, Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla
16. Ritu Menon, publisher and writer, Delhi
17. Nandita Gandhi, Akshara, Mumbai
18. Pamela Philipose, journalist and writer, Delhi
19. Ritu Dewan, feminist economist, Mumbai
20. Geeta Seshu, journalist, Mumbai
21. Dr Panchali Ray, Jadavpur University, Kolkata
22. N Sarojini, SAMA, Delhi
23. Purnima Gupta, Delhi
24. Virginia Saldanha, Mumbai
25. Tarangini Sriraman, TISS, Mumbai
26. Hasina Khan, Bebaak Collective, Mumbai
27. Dr Veena Poonacha, SNDT University
28. Dr Mary John, Centre for Women’s Development Studies, Delhi
29. Runu Chakraborty, feminist activist, Delhi
30. Gabriele Dietich, NAPM and Pennurimai Iyakkam, Madurai
31. Radhika Khajuria
32. Adv Indira Jaisinh, former Additional Advocate-General of India, Delhi
33. Vandana Mahajan, feminist activist, Bangalore
34. Adv Lara Jesani, Mumbai
35. Lena Ganesh, feminist activist
36. SAHELI, Delhi
37. Vani Subramaniam, film-maker, Delhi
38. Dr Sadhna Arya, Saheli, Delhi
39. Anuradha Banerji, Saheli, Delhi
40. Anjali Joshi, Saheli, Delhi
41. Shraddha Chickerur, PhD candidate, University of Hyderabad
42. Vimochana, Bangalore
43. Lakshmi Krishnamurthy, Alarippu, Bangalore
44. Chayanika Shah, Queer feminist activist, Mumbai
45. LABIA, Mumbai
46. Anuradha Pati, development expert and entrepreneur, Bangalore
47. Sujata Gothoskar, labour rights activist, Mumbai
48. Soma KP, researcher and land rights activist, Delhi
49. Ashima Roy Choudhury, Saheli, Delhi
50. Amrita Shodhan, independent researcher, Hong Kong
51. Dr Mira Shiva, Jan Swasthya Andolan, Delhi
52. Richa Aushidhaya, Jan Chetna Sangathan, Rajasthan
53. Meena Seshu, SANGRAM, Maharashtra
54. Dr N Indira, Independent researcher, Hyderabad
55. Malini Ghose, feminist activist, Delhi
56. Seema Kulkarni, MAKAAM
57. Arshie Qureshi, Kashmir Women’s Collective
58. Niti Saxena, AALI
59. Natha Wahlang, Thma u Rangli-Juki, Shillong
60. Prof Archana Prasad, JNU
61. Soni Sori
62. Bela Bhatia, Advocate and Social Scientist
63. Rajeev Dhavan, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India
64. Kalyani Menon Sen
65. Shalini Gera, Advocate, Bilaspur High Court
66. Nisha Biswas
67. Freny Manecksha, Journalist
68. Pyoli Swatija, Advocate, Supreme Court of India
69. Radhika Chitkara, Independent Legal Researcher
70. Shreya Sangai
71. Madhur Bharatiya, Advocate, Quill Foundation
72. Guneer Kaur, Advocate, Delhi
73. Meera Sanghamitra
74. Anupama Potluri
75. Baljeet Kaur, Quill Foundation
76. Aritra Bhattacharya, Independent Journalist
77. Isha Khandelwal, Advocate, Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group
78. Kritika, Government Law College Mumbai
79. Nikita Sonavane
80. Arundathi Vishwanath, Bangalore
81. Karuna D.W., Chennai
82. Sarah Jacobson
83. Padmaja Shaw
84. Dunu Roy
85. Puja, Independent Legal Researcher, Patna
86. Shobha R., Human Rights Activist
87. Atindriyo Chakrabarty, Legal Researcher, Kolkata
88. Nikita Agarwal, Advocate, Bilaspur High Court
89. Rosamma Thomas, Pune
90. Shailza Sharma, Lawyer
91. Shrimoyee Nandini Ghosh, Lawyer
92. Uma Chakravarti
93. Kiran Shaheen
94. Sharanya Nayak
95. Kavita Krishnan
96. Kamayani Bali Mahabal
97. Vidhya A.
98. Shivani Taneja
99. Jenny Sulfath
100. Shikha Pandey, Advocate
101. Chandni Chawla
102. Manshi Asher, Himachal Pradesh
103. Karthik Bittu Kondaiah
104. Sohini Shoaib
105. Tanmay Nivedita
106. Kalyani
107. Felix Padel
108. Kavya Chowdhry
109. Arundhati Dhuru
110. Nandini Rao, New Delhi
111. Nandini Sundar
112. Madhushree Basu, Dancer, Chennai
113. Alok Laddha, Chennai Mathematical Institute
114. Shabnam Hashmi, Social Activist, Anhad
115. Arjun Sheoran, Advocate, National Secretary, PUCL
116. Bhamati S. Filmmaker
117. Deepika, Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, Chhattisgarh
118. Trishna Senapathy, Cornell University
119. Taru Dalmia, New Delhi, musician
120. Manisha Sethi, Delhi
121. Oishik Sircar, Legal Academic
122. Uma V. Chandru, Bangalore
123. Manasi Pingle
124. Ajitha, WSS
125. Riddhi Pandey, Student, Graduate Institute, Geneva
126. Suratno Basu
127. Nidhi Joshi
128. Rishika Sahgal
129. Saswati Ghosh, Kolkata
130. Kalyani Badola
131. Women Against Sexual Violence and State Repression
132. All India Progressive Women’s Association
133. Jan Jaagran Shakti Sangathan, Bihar
January 27, 2019 at 4:13 pm
The appointment of a controversial person again despite public resentment may not be good for healthy democracy