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 repeatedly despite 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:
- Ardhendu Sen, IAS (retd) former Chief Secretary, West Bengal
- Amitabha Pande, IAS (retd) former Secretary, National Integration Council
- G Balagopal, IAS (retd) Advisor, UNICEF
- MG Devasahayam, IAS (retd)
- V Ramani, IAS (retd) former Director, YASHADA
- Dr KS Subramaniam, IPS (retd) Delhi
- C Balakrishnan, IAS (retd) former Secretary Coal,, GoI
- Sundar Burra, IAS (retd)
- Keshav Desiraju, IAS (retd) former Health Secretary, GoI
- J Harinarayan, IAS (retd), former Chief Secretary Andhra Pradesh
- Sumantra Guha, IAS (retd)
- KP Fabian IFS (retd) former Ambassador to Italy
- Arun Kumar IAS (retd)
- Abha Bhaiya, Jagori (Rural), HP
- Prof Sujata Patel, Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla
- Ritu Menon, publisher and writer, Delhi
- Nandita Gandhi, Akshara, Mumbai
- Pamela Philipose, journalist and writer, Delhi
- Ritu Dewan, feminist economist, Mumbai
- Geeta Seshu, journalist, Mumbai
- Dr Panchali Ray, Jadavpur University, Kolkata
- N Sarojini, SAMA, Delhi
- Purnima Gupta, Delhi
- Virginia Saldanha, Mumbai
- Tarangini Sriraman, TISS, Mumbai
- Hasina Khan, Bebaak Collective, Mumbai
- Dr Veena Poonacha, SNDT University
- Dr Mary John, Centre for Women’s Development Studies, Delhi
- Runu Chakraborty, feminist activist, Delhi
- Gabriele Dietich, NAPM and Pennurimai Iyakkam, Madurai
- Radhika Khajuria
- Adv Indira Jaisinh, former Additional Advocate-General of India, Delhi
- Vandana Mahajan, feminist activist, Bangalore
- Adv Lara Jesani, Mumbai
- Lena Ganesh, feminist activist
- SAHELI, Delhi
- Vani Subramaniam, film-maker, Delhi
- Dr Sadhna Arya, Saheli, Delhi
- Anuradha Banerji, Saheli, Delhi
- Anjali Joshi, Saheli, Delhi
- Shraddha Chickerur, PhD candidate, University of Hyderabad
- Vimochana, Bangalore
- Lakshmi Krishnamurthy, Alarippu, Bangalore
- Chayanika Shah, Queer feminist activist, Mumbai
- LABIA, Mumbai
- Anuradha Pati, development expert and entrepreneur, Bangalore
- Sujata Gothoskar, labour rights activist, Mumbai
- Soma KP, researcher and land rights activist, Delhi
- Ashima Roy Choudhury, Saheli, Delhi
- Amrita Shodhan, independent researcher, Hong Kong
- Dr Mira Shiva, Jan Swasthya Andolan, Delhi
- Richa Aushidhaya, Jan Chetna Sangathan, Rajasthan
- Meena Seshu, SANGRAM, Maharashtra
- Dr N Indira, Independent researcher, Hyderabad
- Malini Ghose, feminist activist, Delhi
- Seema Kulkarni, MAKAAM
- Arshie Qureshi, Kashmir Women’s Collective
- Niti Saxena, AALI
- Natha Wahlang, Thma u Rangli-Juki, Shillong
- Prof Archana Prasad, JNU
- Soni Sori
- Bela Bhatia, Advocate and Social Scientist
- Rajeev Dhavan, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India
- Kalyani Menon Sen
- Shalini Gera, Advocate, Bilaspur High Court
- Nisha Biswas
- Freny Manecksha, Journalist
- Pyoli Swatija, Advocate, Supreme Court of India
- Radhika Chitkara, Independent Legal Researcher
- Shreya Sangai
- Madhur Bharatiya, Advocate, Quill Foundation
- Guneer Kaur, Advocate, Delhi
- Meera Sanghamitra
- Anupama Potluri
- Baljeet Kaur, Quill Foundation
- Aritra Bhattacharya, Independent Journalist
- Isha Khandelwal, Advocate, Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group
- Kritika, Government Law College Mumbai
- Nikita Sonavane
- Arundathi Vishwanath, Bangalore
- Karuna D.W., Chennai
- Sarah Jacobson
- Padmaja Shaw
- Dunu Roy
- Puja, Independent Legal Researcher, Patna
- Shobha R., Human Rights Activist
- Atindriyo Chakrabarty, Legal Researcher, Kolkata
- Nikita Agarwal, Advocate, Bilaspur High Court
- Rosamma Thomas, Pune
- Shailza Sharma, Lawyer
- Shrimoyee Nandini Ghosh, Lawyer
- Uma Chakravarti
- Kiran Shaheen
- Sharanya Nayak
- Kavita Krishnan
- Kamayani Bali Mahabal
- Vidhya A.
- Shivani Taneja
- Jenny Sulfath
- Shikha Pandey, Advocate
- Chandni Chawla
- Manshi Asher, Himachal Pradesh
- Karthik Bittu Kondaiah
- Sohini Shoaib
- Tanmay Nivedita
- Kalyani
- Felix Padel
- Kavya Chowdhry
- Arundhati Dhuru
- Nandini Rao, New Delhi
- Nandini Sundar
- Madhushree Basu, Dancer, Chennai
- Alok Laddha, Chennai Mathematical Institute
- Shabnam Hashmi, Social Activist, Anhad
- Arjun Sheoran, Advocate, National Secretary, PUCL
- Bhamati S. Filmmaker
- Deepika, Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, Chhattisgarh
- Trishna Senapathy, Cornell University
- Taru Dalmia, New Delhi, musician
- Manisha Sethi, Delhi
- Oishik Sircar, Legal Academic
- Uma V. Chandru, Bangalore
- Manasi Pingle
- Ajitha, WSS
- Riddhi Pandey, Student, Graduate Institute, Geneva
- Suratno Basu
- Nidhi Joshi
- Rishika Sahgal
- Saswati Ghosh, Kolkata
- Kalyani Badola
- Women Against Sexual Violence and State Repression
- All India Progressive Women’s Association
- Jan Jaagran Shakti Sangathan, Bihar
Also Read: Chhattisgarh: S.R.P. Kalluri, Ex-Bastar IG Accused of Human Rights Abuses, Gets Plum Appointment