The Supreme Court on Thursday, July 14, imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh and ordered the Chhattisgarh government to act against an activist for “criminal conspiracy” while delivering its verdict on a petition he moved in 2009 against alleged extra-judicial killings of tribals carried out by security forces in the state.

A division bench of Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and J.B. Pardiwala ruled against the petition moved by Himanshu Kumar and 12 others who alleged that security forces had shot down over 10 tribals from the Dantewada district in anti-Naxal operations in 2009. The petitioners asked the court to order the government to offer compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the kin of the deceased.

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