"My brother is a poor farmer. All in the area know him for his good conduct. We have never seen Naxals in our life. Then why is the police unnecessary

Desperate cops label villagers as Naxals, nab them

Bhubaneswar: Naxal militants or innocent victims of a police force desperate for quick results?

Orissa police arrested several men from Bodangia in Orissa, accused of being Naxalites and thrown into jail, like hundreds of other people picked up by the police since February 15 in their anti-Naxal campaign.

Their relatives have now come to the state Human Rights Commission in Bhubaneswar, seeking justice, they say, for their brothers.

"My brother is a poor farmer. All in the area know him for his good conduct. We have never seen Naxals in our life. Then why is the police unnecessary harassing us,” says victim's brother, Basu Majhi.

Police say the men were arrested after they were spotted “moving around suspiciously”. The police then produced them before a district magistrate who sent them to a jail in Phulbani. The State Human Rights Commission has taken cognizance of the matter, and asked the Orissa Director General of Police to submit a report on the arrests

Says Chairman of Orissa Human Rights Commission, R K Patra, "No innocent person should have been arrested. We take cognizance of such police atrocities and will definitely investigate the matter."

Last week in Bhubaneswar, four people were detained by the police suspecting them to be Naxals. But later it was found one of them was blind and another mentally retarded.

It seems Orissa police is simply beating around the bush to catch the Naxals.