The air is thick with rhythmic wailing and smoke from funeral pyres on the barren fields of Sarkeguda, Kotteguda and Rajapetta in the Kotteguda panchayat of Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district.
“The funerals are being conducted one by one as there aren’t enough men to help out with so many bodies,” said Sangam Ravi, a resident. “Some have to be buried, but who will dig all the graves? Some bodies must be burnt, but then you need to collect the wood.”
A day after the Chhattisgarh police claimed to have killed 20 Maoists in an encounter in Bijapur, villagers have offered a sharply divergent description of the incident, claiming that the security forces fired at a peaceful gathering of villagers, killing 20 of them, including five children aged 12-15, and sexually assaulted at least four teenaged girls during the encounter.
“There were no Maoists present at the village that night,” said Madkam Ganpat of Rajpetta. “We had gathered to discuss the upcoming seed festival, which is held every year before sowing begins.” He said the meeting continued for several hours, when the participants were suddenly surrounded by a large contingent of the security forces.
“The forces immediately opened fire, all of us tried to run away but many were shot in the legs, back and chest,” he said. Kaka Saraswati was among those killed in the ensuing confusion. “She was only 12 years old,” said her mother Kaka Sinakka.
Several of the bodies seen by this correspondent had bullet wounds in the torso and the neck. Sabka Mitu, 17, was killed when his throat was slit by a sharp object. Several bodies also had lacerations from what could have been a knife or an axe.
Mr. Ganpat’s account was corroborated by a number of villagers who insisted that no Maoists were present at the meeting, but none could explain how six policemen were injured. “The forces had encircled us,” said Mr. Ganpat. “Maybe, they accidently shot each other.”
The firing lasted several minutes, the villagers said, after which the forces radioed for a tractor that took away a number of bodies. “The force then camped in the village and dragged me into the fields,” Devi (name changed), a 14-year-old girl, said in an interview. “They threw me on the ground, beat me, kicked me, tore my clothes and kept threatening to rape me.” She said three other girls were similarly molested.
“The force remained on the fields till the next morning,” said Irpa Raju. “My son Ramesh stepped out of the house to go to the toilet when he was shot by a policeman. Ramesh ran to the house, shouting ‘Ayo, Ayo [Mother, Mother,]’ but the force followed him and killed him in our house, in front of my eyes.” Raju also accused the policemen of breaking open the family treasure chest and stealing Rs.5,000.
While the villagers’ accounts seem internally consistent, this correspondent spotted at least seven uniformed Maoists on patrol at Rajapetta on Saturday morning, suggesting that the Maoists do frequent the village. Villagers, seeking anonymity, said the Maoists were occasionally called for village meetings to discuss routine matters such as festivals, sowing, ploughing and harvest.
A few hours into the visit of this correspondent, a young man brought a hand-written note signed by the South Bastar Divisional Committee of the CPI (Maoist). It described the incident as a “completely fake encounter” and claimed that all the victims were innocent tribals.
“The forces had received information that several senior Maoists were gathering in a village called Silger, about 16 km from the CRPF camp at Basaguda. Three km into their patrol, the troopers literally barged into a Maoist village meeting at Kottaguda,” said a senior police officer. “We were taken by surprise, and five of our men were injured right away.”
The source said several of the dead were “probably” civilians.
“We exercised the maximum restraint and fired in self-defence. We were conscious of operating in a village area,” claimed a trooper who participated in the operation. “We did not use any area-weapons such as grenades or rocket launchers. If we really wanted to, we could have razed the entire village.”
Keywords: Dantewada encounter, CRPF, anti-naxal operations
Why the tribals, even the lowly jawans deserve our sympathy. The jawans are not rich. They have to follow instructions. They are targeted by Naxals. The Naxals spare collectors, but not the collectors bodyguards. Even a left-wing paper like the Hindu refers to collectors as "high-value assets", as though the jawans are low-value assets. Let the author interview some jawans and ask them what is the correct way of behaving with the tribals. Let low-level jawans and the tribals talk. Everybody else is discredited--politicians, activists, journalists, editors, intellectuals, Naxalites, missionaries, ...
I wonder where our leaders are. The state in which this massacre took place is a BJP ruled state and the Central Govt is Congress led. Previously we used to hear about these kind of massacres of innocents in Kashmir by terrorists. There are certain people amongst us in India in the Govt, in the security forces, in the media who want the tribals eliminated and their culture destroyed, similar to the white supremacists in America who plundered the native Indians over there -- it is important for all the truly patriotic people to recognize this and stand up for Justice for the poorest of the poor. Only then this nation can prosper.
I do not understand why The Hindu is not moderating any comment in
support of Maoists. They are traitors. Where were these intellectuals
when CRPF men were butchered many times? And suppose these people were
innocent then how come six CRPF men sustained injuries? Maoist are the
biggest enemies of poor people. You just need to see the remote villages
controlled by Naxals. All the development plans are stopped. People live
in fear. They pick young girls and children from any family and
villagers have no option but to cry.
CRPF is leaderless force. IPS officers have no clue about what is
happening on ground. Bottom level CRPF cadre officers lack will and are in low
Morale because are top ranks are usurped by IPS officers. None of IPS officer has ever
been in operations against Maoists. Such incidents will happen as politicians have no
courage to sack IPS officers in the chain.
killing blantantly opening fire on innocent tribal is most cruel and human violation,,it will create more bloodshed and more reprisal attacts,govt failed miserably to stop atrocities on tribal,these are most poor people and helpless tribal they should be helped thorough good development and their presence should be increased in polce recruitement
ORIGNAL owners of Mother india:
These central/eastern tribes are the ' oldest linguistic groups' of india;Oldest ( abt20,000 yrs)migrants from africa and speak the oldest languages " austric-munda" family sharing with entire south east asia ( malaysia,indonesia etc) and/or Dravidian family eg Kurukh,malto, gond,etc--from a total of 22 dravidian languages.
These 2 families are the mother of " all venaculars" of indo-pakis as detailed in my book " urdu/hindi an artificial divide--african heritage--"; These original indians ( adivasis) includes many still with " stone age/ hunting gathering life style".
Govt of india, dominated by "new comers- farmers of mideast after abt 7000 Bc--styling as " aryans/semites" --mythical races( non historic) of bible seem to act like " europeans killing american indians" and have no remorse. Their policy needs a drastic change or the " greatest threat" to india ( according to Manmohan singh) may become real.India needs 'humanism'not biblical racism
Thanks to The Hindu exposing the state sponsored terrorism against poorest indian citizens.
When ever some one asks that why Kasab is not hanged the Government keep saying that our Constitution gives a fair chance to all its members.... I would like to ask our government that why it did not give a fair chance to all these maoists. On one hand the government is spending rupees thirty five crores on prisoners like Kasab and and on the other hand they are killing so many people without giving them even a fair chance to go to the court....
"We did not use any area-weapons such as grenades or rocket launchers. If we really wanted to, we could have razed the entire village." Such comments just shows how insensitive the security forces are towards civilians. Its no wonder people support maoists. With such attitude Indian security forces will never be able to take out the naxals, infact it will ensure that the naxal ranks are filled with more aggrieved people who genuinely have a grudge against the state and the security forces in particular.
I can't believe this is happening in India. Agreed there were movements of Maoists in that village but that does not give any right to the security forces to shoot innocent civilians,children included.How barbaric we have become.If I am in their place , next time I see the policeman, I will shoot him in revenge.And the cycle will continue.
Is this how we solve Maoists menace? we are a nation where we treat the symptoms but stubbornly refuse to treat the disease.
I refuse to buy this theory. Firstly, CRPF would definitely have had some intelligence inputs before conducting such operation. They didn't just stroll through the woods, found a gathering and started shooting at them. By the way if gathering was peaceful, how can it take 'a large contingent of the security forces' 'several minutes' (as narrated by them) to kill participants which were mere sitting ducks? Secondly, they say that CRPF shot each other and molested teenagers. Well, CRPF are not to be confused with the average cops we find on street. They camp in territory which their enemies know in detail and many of them have laid down their lives too. Maoists are trying to paint a dirty picture of CRPF personnels' professionalism and moral values. They put forward the 'tribal' image but at the same time unleash carnage on security forces and continue to get cross-border support.
maoist problem can not be tackled by force alone ,unless and untill their is no development in these tribal belts ,their socioeconomic condition doesnt improve this problem will get bigger day by day.
The country is in such a mess right now that its really hard to come to a conclusion if it was a real encounter or a fake one. I hope we solve this problem as soon as possible, because the day is not far when foreign countries will use these poor people against our own government.
Its soley because we dont have the leaders with empathy. 'Inclusive' is the word they dont want even think of.
Looks quite like a genocide by India's elite security forces - what were their compulsions for eliminating these poorest citizens ? Were these forces attempting to justify their existence with this violent action ? The Congress Party owes an explanation to the nation.
These are gross violation of human rights. Innocent tribals are killed
with impunity and later projected as Maoists. Your correspondent's
graphic account of the gruesome killings are not only painful to read
but puts all of us to shame that we could tolerate and swallow these
the unstoppable killings by the state. Obviously, we fail to learn any
lessons from history which is replete with such incidents like My Lai
massacre committed by our role model masters, the United States, in
Vietnam in 1968.
Life offers them vulnerability to suspicion and torture; death brings for them condemnation and hatred. Yet they are quite a part of world's largest democracy(?) and the welfare face of the nation.
Very sad. Once again shows the atrocities of the authority in the name of moists.
Its very sad that the innocent villagers are killed.. Its very difficult
to avoid such things since the Maoists use the innocent tribal people as
shield.. The men in uniform also have no choice and much time to react
when their life is at stake during such encounters.. these kind of
encounters are very sensitive and quite difficult to arrive at a
conclusion..
Appreciate The Hindu for their efforts to bring out the truth.Government
killing their own citizens in the name of Maoists."Brave" forces killing
innocent villagers
Appreciate The Hindu, for reporting both sides.
It is shocking, this corroborates that there is no value of human life. what do they mean if they really wanted to they could have razed the entire village. It appears that it is the whims and fancies of the security forces that operate in these areas. guess this is why it is the 'liberated zone'.
It is really unfortunate to read the several articles on Maoists
affected tribal areas. It would not be a genuine decision to reach up
to any of the conclusion that, whether encounter is fake or not as no
one of us were present there? But we must agree that tribal's
condition in these area is really very bad. Just think, if only 2
point out of 10 points made by villagers are correct, then what are
the options left for the tribal people by so called just & liberal
society? So i thought tribal philosophy should not be ignored after a
point.Time is running out & government need to address this issue on
priority.
Is there no one in India to protect the most vulnerable, poorest of the poor
tribals living there. Murder cases should be opened against the planners and
perpetrators of this ghastly genocide on innocent civilians as per the report.
Is there no value for human life?. Is this the India of the Mahatma and Vivekananda?
Is the government congratulating itself for the merciless killings of innocent civilians?
shame on indian government and armed forces. on the basis of the comment of army person that 'if we really wanted to, we could have razed the entire village',indian gov. can be presented the bravery award.bravo! shame on all of us so called responsible 'indian citizen'.
The police personnel in the Naxalite areas involve higher flexibility in decision making while executing their powers. The higher officials should take care that the discretion and the result action taken by them is for greater good and less or no loss of the innocent people. The people in those areas are mostly uneducated and have less access to the court of law for justice. Therefore, the government if necessary the governor,since these are mostly tribal areas, should look into the authenticity and necessity of the encounters and take necessary action on the misuse of power rests with them. Open fire in the public gathering where the children are present is inhuman, I don't know how far the encounter is right but one thing is sure since there is very less or no open window for the tribal people to fight for justice these atrocities occur. The media should play a major role in question the authority and bring about the truth out of the incident.
The security forces have become terrorists. How can one explain men in
bullet proof vests killing unarmed children, women and men? Aren't we
ashamed of the security forces that act as mercinaries? Their handlers in
Delhi should be dealt with by the public.
Lies spread by the Government is religiously reported by the press.
Yesterday's bravado information turns out to be state terrorist act.
When the judiciary is asked to walk they crawled during the Emergency
today they are prostrating before the politicians.
No country that is ruled by fear and corruption has ever prospered. Rise
Indians time has come for you to take responsibility to restore democracy.
This story tells that this is a fake encounter. The tribals in Chhattisgarh or other parts of India have no access to proper drinking water, food and shelter since 1947. Where is the money gone which shows as SPENT on government G.Os? Why do government focus on development of states like Chhattisgarh rather than kill innocent tribals? Where are we heading to? For sure to reciprocate this, Maoists do another bus blasts where common people also die in the incidents which targets CRPF or police and when do we have a logicial conclusion to it?
Shame on police and all those involved in fake encounters.
Innocent people are being killed on daily basis! No one should be
killed and we must learn the value of every life.
Please Email the Editor