Terming the killing of 20 alleged red sander smugglers in Andhra Pradesh as "heinous" and "inhuman", the Centre of Indian Trade Unions CITU) has demanded a judicial probe into the matter and sought adequate compensation for kin of the victims of "police brutality".
"The CITU condemns barbaric killings of labourers in the Seshachalam forest in Andhra Pradesh by police in the name of encounter with red sandalwood smugglers.
"It demands a judicial enquiry into such heinous killings and demands the State Government to pay adequate compensation to families of the victims of police brutality," Tapan Sen, CITU general secretary, said in a statement.
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Two days ago, 20 people, said to be red sanders smugglers, were gunned down in Andhra Pradesh's Chittoor district during a police operation.
Referring to media reports, the outfit labelled the encounter as "fake one". He added that police killed the labourers in "cold blood" to "cover up" their failure to curb increasing menace of red sanders' smuggling.
"This is simply inhuman as well as heinous on the part of state administration that their abject failure to contain the smuggling or capture the smugglers is being sought to be camouflaged by brutal killings of the poor labourers hired for cutting woods in the forest," he said.
Sen called upon workers and trade unions to raise their voice of protest against such police action.
