Central Reserve Police Force personnel who have recently been at the receiving end of the inquiry into the Tahakwada Maoist attack have denied allegations of “inaction” and “cowardice”.
The CRPF had earlier this month suspended 17 of its men for “inaction” and “cowardice or not doing enough in the demanding situation” when the Maoists attacked a CRPF party near Tahakwada village of Bastar region’s Sukma district on March 11 this year, killing 16 people including 11 CRPF men and four district police jawans.
Terming the action of suspending 17 jawans as “unjust and demoralising”, a jawan said: “We would not have been serving in Bastar had we been scared. We were only 45 and around 200 Maoists had surrounded us from all sides. The difficult topography of the encounter spot made it impossible for the jawans to see 10 metres ahead.”
