On July 14, the Supreme Court of India imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh on Urban Naxal Himanshu Kumar while calling the allegations raised in a writ petition filed by him false and fabricated. Today (July 16), the Chhattisgarh ‘activist’ has said that he won’t pay the “exemplary” cost of Rs 5 lakh imposed on him by the Supreme Court on Thursday.
Speaking to Indian Express, Kumar said he will not pay the fine and instead he will go to jail. “I know I will go to jail. Paying the fine would mean accepting that I did something wrong,” he said.
SC rebukes Chhattisgarh petitioner calling allegations made by him “false and fabricated”
Notably, the apex court had imposed the fine while dismissing the writ petition filed by Himanshu Kumar seeking a CBI probe against Central Security Forces and Chhatisgarh Police for allegedly killing 17 tribals in Dantewada in 2009. The apex court found the allegations raised in the petition false and fabricated.
Furthermore, the apex court has given the central government liberty to book Kumar for conspiracy and forging evidence against the central security forces and state Police. It has also given the central government liberty to register offences for conspiracy and forging evidence against all involved in making false accusations against security forces.
The writ petition filed by the Chhattisgarh Urban Naxal Himanshu Kumar
In the petition, Himanshu Kumar had alleged that the security forces killed 17 innocent tribal people and tortured many others. Based on the alleged testimonies recorded by him in 2009, Kumar claimed to have been forced out of the Naxal-dominating regions of Jharkhand after he filed the petition. Kumar ran an NGO named Vanvasi Chetna Ashram.
In his petition, Kumar claimed he recorded testimonies of residents of three villages that were then in Dantewada district and now come under Sukma district. In the testimonies, the locals allegedly accused security forces of killing two villagers in Velpocha and Nalkathong and nine villagers in Gompad. Both incidents allegedly took place in October 2009. Another six were claimed to have been killed on September 17, 2009. Several others were allegedly injured by the security forces.
Reply from the central government
In its reply to the Supreme Court against the allegations by Kumar, the Union Home Ministry urged the apex court to hand over the matter to CBI or NIA to identify the individuals who file false cases against the security forces to protect Naxal extremists.
In its reply, the centre said that after examining the recordings and other evidence, it was found that the testimonies were false and fabricated. The recordings submitted before the apex court revealed that all the averments made by the petitioner were ex-facie false and fabricated.
