India, Aug. 25 -- A group of retired judges on Monday called Union home minister Amit Shah's statement "misinterpreting" the 2011 Supreme Court judgment outlawing Chhattisgarh's Salwa Judum militia "unfortunate", underlining it did not support Naxalism and that a high political functionary's "prejudicial misinterpretation" is likely to have a chilling effect.

Shah made the comments in Kerala on Friday as he accused the Opposition's vice-presidential nominee B Sudershan Reddy, who was part of the two-judge bench that delivered the verdict, of aiding Maoism with the 2011 judgment. He claimed that Left Wing Extremism would have ended by 2020 had not there been the Salwa Judum judgement.

"The statement of the Union Home Minister Mr Amit Sha...