Senior Maoist leader Ganesh Uike has accused the security forces of killing over 90 people in fake and staged encounters in the first six months of this year in the restive Bastar region of Chhattisgarh.
A member of the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist) Danda Karanya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC) and the head of its Bastar Sub Zonal Bureau, Mr. Uike has also alleged that the security forces have sexually assaulted 50 women in Bastar during the Chhattisgarh government’s anti-Maoist campaign ‘Mission 2016’.
“Over 90 people have been killed in the last six months in the name of ‘Mission 2016’ by security forces in Bastar. Over 50 women have been sexually assaulted and hundreds of tribals have been declared ‘warrantee Maoists’ and are being tortured in jail. In the name of anti-Maoist campaign, large-scale attacks are carried out on the common people of Bastar.
It’s a police raj in the BJP-ruled Chhattisgarh and human rights of the common public are being openly violated,” Mr. Uike said in a press statement.
“After Vijay Kumar’s [the special security advisor to the Union Home Ministry] visit, the security forces attacked Mandel, Gondod, Gampur Karka, Eramgonda, Pendam, Edasmetta, Pasnur, Todka and Palnar village of Bastar and committed atrocities on ordinary citizens like an invading foreign army.
The people of Chhattisgarh are battling inflation, drought, and unemployment but the State government is only concerned about anti-Maoist campaigns,” he said.
Vows revenge“On July 10, four of our men were killed by the police in Bijapur. There was no firing from our men. But the police opened heavy firing on our men and killed them and called it a major encounter,” he claimed.
Mr. Uike, however, accepted that all four were “active Maoists” and vowed to take “revenge”. He also owned up the killings of three BJP leaders in Bijapur.
