Twenty people, alleged to be Maoists, were killed during an encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh on Thursday night. So far, the security forces and the state government have conformed that only 4 of them were Maoists, the background check on others are still on.

In view of this and in view of severe protests from political parties and social activists that most of those killed were innocent villagers, shouldn't there be an independent inquiry to find out the truth? On Monday, the union home secretary refused to order an independent inquiry saying that the encounter was genuine since 6 security personnel too were injured. It was also pointed out that two inquiries had been ordered - one by the Bijapur district collector and another by CRPF. Both are "internal" inquiries, one by a sub-divisional magistrate of the district and the other by local CRPF commandant. Since both are interested parties in the incident, don't you think an independent inquiry will clear all doubts?