Overview

• The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes issued notices to the Jharkhand Chief Secretary, DGP, and Godda’s Deputy Commissioner and SP, directing them to appear within three days to explain actions taken after the 11 August encounter in Godda.
• The notice follows a complaint by Rajya Sabha MP Deepak Prakash alleging a staged killing and seeking an impartial probe, with the Commission warning it may invoke its constitutional powers if officials do not comply.
• Police say Surya Hansda faced around 25 cases and was shot after he allegedly snatched an INSAS rifle during a weapons recovery trip to the Dhamni hills, asserting that procedures followed National Human Rights Commission guidelines.
• Hansda’s family rejects the police version, saying he was bedridden, taken without a warrant, and targeted for his activism, and they have refused to accept his body.
• BJP leaders Arjun Munda and Babulal Marandi have sought a CBI investigation or a judge-led inquiry and called for a second post-mortem under judicial supervision, with a seven-member party team visiting the family to gather facts.