Stop calling activists Maoists: SC

The Supreme Court has pulled up the Chhattisgarh government for dubbing human rights activists Maoist sympathizers. This was after the state’s counsel, Ranjith Kumar, accused activist Himanshu Kumar of being a naxal sympathizer who was misleading the court. Kumar works among tribal people in Chhattisgarh and has sought protection for witnesses who say they saw police kill 10 tribals on October 1, 2009 in Dantewada district. Kumar said the witnesses are harassed and six of them have been in police custody for the past 45 days. The court also expressed displeasure over the state’s decision to exhume the bodies of the 10 tribals for post mortem without the court’s permission, especially since the court is hearing a petition seeking a CBI probe into the killings.