Skip to main content

Chattisgarh cops handing over activists' personal info to "anti-Naxal" vigilante groups: Rights group PUDR

Shalini Gera
By Our Representative
Are the police handing over personal details of activists working on tribal rights issues in Chhattisgarh to armed vigilante groups, which have cropped up with state support with the claim to fight Naxalism? A premier human rights group, People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUDR), has alleged that this is what happened on December 20, following their cadres’ meeting with tribals in Bastar region.
In a statement, PUDR says, it organised a one day conference on tribal rights on December 19 in village Matenaar of Dantewada district, where around 100 villagers from 3 three districts – Dantewada, Sukma and Bijapur – participated. “Most of those present were family members of tribals who have been killed in fake encounters, victims of sexual violence and other human rights abuses”, it adds.
Locally organised by Sukul Prasad Barse, a veteran activist, when the participants were returning from the meet on the following day, they were “stopped by police for verification”, says PUDR, adding, “They were questioned about the meeting and were allowed to go only after verification of their names and identities.”
According to PUDR, “The photos of the activists and the meeting taken by the police were handed over to vigilante groups who circulated them alleging that some students from the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) had entered Bastar for provoking the people, when none of the activists who attended the meeting is from JNU.”
PUDR reports, ever since then, the “police officials from Kotwali thana, Dantewada, have been consistently making rounds at Barse's house and threatening him for organising this event even though a prior information was given to the local authorities.” Barse, 70, is a local social activist from Maatenar, who works closely with Soni Sori, well-known tribal rights activist and is associated with Aam Aadmi Party. Sori attacked by throwing inflammable substance on her face a few months back.
Militant vigilante groups actively harassing activists, says PUDR, is pretty common in Bastar. 
More recently, there were reports that Shalini Gera, an advocate and member of Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group (JAG LAG), was harassed by Chhattisgarh police on December 27, when she received a phone call from RN Dash SP Bastar, informing her that he has received a written complaint stating that she exchanged banned notes worth Rs 10 lakhs for Naxalites in Goel Dharamshala in Jagdalpur a day earlier.
Says PUDR, she came to know through a WhatsApp message about the complainant who happens to be a member of a vigilante group AGNI (Action Group for National Integration), said to have been created under the guidance of Bastar police boss SRP Kalluri. AGNI, according to a report, consists of lawyers, teachers, doctors, trade unionists and Bharatiya Janata Party members, many of whom were with the disbanded group, Samajik Ekta Manch.
According to PUDR, Shalini was “indeed present in Goel Dharamshala in Jagdalpur from the night of December 25, 2016 to the evening of December 26, 2016 along with her colleagues for attending an exhumation of the body of Somaru Pottam of Metapal village in Bijapur district for a repeat post mortem to be conducted in Maharani Hospital, Jagdalpur under the directions of High Court of Chhattisgarh.”
On December 16, Bijapur police announced that a team of security forces had killed an ‘unidentified and armed Maoist in uniform’ in Metapal in a gun battle, who was later identified by residents of Metapal, as 13-year-old Pottam. His parents petitioned the Chattisgarh High Court demanding an enquiry claiming that their son has been murdered by security forces. Shalini is representing the petitioners in this case.
“In connection with this case, Shalini and her colleagues had travelled to Jagdalpur”, says PUDR, adding, “They were accompanied throughout by D Mahant, tehsildar of Bijapur; Pankaj Daharia CEO of Bijapur; and the SDM of Bijapur. The Divisional Commissioner had made arrangements for their stay in Goel Dharamshala as the Circuit house was fully occupied. This shows that her visit and stay at Jagdalpur was official and not a secret one as claimed by the SP.”

Comments

TRENDING

Junk food push causing severe public health crisis of obesity, diabetes in India: Report

By Rajiv Shah  A new report , “The Junk Push: Rising Consumption of Ultra-processed foods in India- Policy, Politics and Reality”, public health experts, consumers groups, lawyers, youth and patient groups, has called upon the Government of India to check the soaring consumption of High Fat Sugar or Salt (HFSS) foods or ultra-processed foods (UPF), popularly called junk food.

Astonishing? Violating its own policy, Barclays 'refinanced' Adani Group's $8 billion bonds

By Rajiv Shah  A new report released by two global NGOs, BankTrack and the Toxic Bonds Network, has claimed to have come up with “a disquieting truth”: that Barclays, a financial heavyweight with a “controversial” track record, is deeply entrenched in a “disturbing” alliance with “the Indian conglomerate and coal miner Adani Group.”

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

From 'Naatu-Naatu' to 'Nipah-Nipah': Dancing to the tune of western pipers?

By Dr Amitav Banerjee, MD*  Some critics have commented that the ecstatic response of most Indians to the Oscar for the racy Indian song, “Naatu-Naatu” from the film, “RRR” reeks of sheer racism, insulting visuals and a colonial hangover. It was perhaps these ingredients that impressed the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, one critic says.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Avoidable Narmada floods: Modi birthday fete caused long wait for release of dam waters

Counterview Desk  Top advocacy group, South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP), has accused the Sardar Sarovar dam operators for once again acting in an "unaccountable" manner, bringing "avoidable floods in downstream Gujarat."  In a detailed analysis, SANDRP has said that the water level at the Golden Bridge in Bharuch approached the highest flood level on September 17, 2023, but these "could have been significantly lower and much less disastrous" both for the upstream and downstream areas of the dam, if the authorities had taken action earlier based on available actionable information.

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Jharkhand: Attempt to create red scare for 'brutal crackdown', increase loot of resources

Counterview Desk  The civil rights group Forum Against Corporatization and Militarization in a statement on plans to crackdown on “64 democratic progressive organisations” in Jharkhand under the pretext of the need to investigate their Maoist link, has alleged that this an attempt to suppress dissent against corporate loot and create an authoritarian state.

Victim of 'hazardous' jobs, Delhi sanitary workers get two thirds of minimum wages

By Sanjeev Kumar*  Recently, the Dalit Adivasi Shakti Adhikar Manch (DASAM) organized a Training of Trainers (ToT) Workshop for sewer workers and waste pickers from all across Delhi NCR. The workshop focused on bringing sanitation workers from different parts of Delhi to train them for organization building and to discuss their issues of minimum wage, contractual labour, regular jobs and social security.

Savarkar 'criminally betrayed' Netaji and his INA by siding with the British rulers

By Shamsul Islam* RSS-BJP rulers of India have been trying to show off as great fans of Netaji. But Indians must know what role ideological parents of today's RSS/BJP played against Netaji and Indian National Army (INA). The Hindu Mahasabha and RSS which always had prominent lawyers on their rolls made no attempt to defend the INA accused at Red Fort trials.