Bhima Barse, the deputy Sarpanch of Badrimahu village in Darbha block of Bastar is worried for his life since September 30 when local newspapers carried a report related to his village.
“We saw a report in local newspapers that all the villagers from our village went to the police and demanded police protection due to Maoist menace. But the news was entirely false and we had made no such demand or request. Now we are scared that this side (Maoist) might target us,” Mr. Bhima told The Hindu .
Almost every family of Badrimahu shares the deputy Sarpanch’s fears and is worried of the Maoist backlash all the more because the village is situated 15 km inside Darbha forest.
“Our village never took side despite being in this conflict zone. But last year police arrested five villagers accusing them of being Maoist informers. A week ago, police promised to release those five villagers if all the villagers go to Darbha police station. They [police] did not even allow us to go to Khakhagav market in order to pressure us to be present in the Darbha police station on September 29,” said another villager on the request of anonymity.
The Badrimahu villagers went to Darbha town on September 29 where a civic action programme was organised by the police in presence of Bastar range Inspector General (IG) of Police S.R.P. Kalluri. “They [police] distributed clothes, school uniforms and notebooks to some school children and villagers and we returned to our village. We never demanded the police protection but the police misled the media by giving false statement. Will the police now come to our village to protect us if Maoists target us? We were trying to be neutral but we have been caught midway in this conflict now,” rued another elderly villager.
The deputy Sarpanch thinks that the police may have suspected Badrimahu as a “Maoist sympathiser village” because the village has no representation in the police force.
“At least one person from each of our neighbouring villages works in the police force but no one from Badrimahu is in the police. What if the Maoists bar us from going out of the village? Badrimahu doesn’t even have a single ration shop, market or hospital,” he feared.
Mr.Kalluri declined the requests from this correspondent for an interview to seek his response over the allegations levelled by Badrimahu villagers against Bastar police. The IG also did not respond to the messages from The Hindu .
However, a police source said that Badrimahu village had been on police radar for the villagers’ support to the Maoists and frequent movements of Maoist troops were reported in the village over the past few months which may have resulted in the police propaganda to “teach villagers a lesson.”
