War Crimes

The People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) deplores the bestial deeds of the two warring sides in Latehar district of Jharkhand during the early hours of 8 January 2013. Mutilating the body of a dead person is unacceptable under any circumstance. To do so in war on the body of a dead combatant is virtually considered taboo under laws that govern war/s. That the bodies were used to plant explosives which would have killed medical staff and those recovering the bodies makes it doubly heinous. The use of civilians as human shields by the forces of the government is equally deplorable.

The People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) deplores the bestial deeds of the two warring sides in Latehar district of Jharkhand during the early hours of 8 January 2013. Mutilating the body of a dead person is unacceptable under any circumstance. To do so in war on the body of a dead combatant is virtually considered taboo under laws that govern war/s. That the bodies were used to plant explosives which would have killed medical staff and those recovering the bodies makes it doubly heinous. The use of civilians as human shields by the forces of the government is equally deplorable. The cowardly nature of this conduct where soldiers hide behind civilians is something that has been a common occurrence in Jammu and Kashmir and the north-east.

In this instance, men, women and children were drawn out of the villages to accompany the security forces of the state on the pretext of a search operation, which was in fact a gun battle. According to the reports of the local police, the entire Ambatikar village, near the Katiya forest where the battle occurred, was deserted at the approach of security forces.