'Fake encounter': 12 Adivasis killed being dubbed Maoists, says FACAM

Counterview Desk

The civil rights network* Forum Against Corporatization and Militarization (FACAM), even as condemn what it has called "fake encounter" of 12 Adivasi villagers in Gangaloor, has taken strong exception to they being presented by the authorities as Maoists.

In a statement, it said, the information it has received suggests that "they were villagers from the nearby Pedia village who were out to gather leaves, a long-term traditional agrarian practice for Adivasi peasants during this season."

Quoting widowed wives and children of the murdered peasants, FACAM claimed, "They were dragged by the paramilitary personnel while they were gathering the leaves and shot dead."

Text:

On 11th May 2024, twelve people from Chhattisgarh were killed in a fake encounter by the paramilitary forces of the Indian state, which claimed that they were all members of the banned CPI (Maoist) killed in exchange of fire. FACAM has received information that they were villagers from the nearby Pedia village who were out to gather leaves, a long-term traditional agrarian practice for Adivasi peasants during this season. According to the villagers, the widowed wives and children of the murdered peasants, they were dragged by the paramilitary personnel while they were gathering the leaves and shot dead. The government later reported this as killings during an encounter with the armed forces of the Maoists.

While a delegation of democratic rights activists, widows, children, family and well-wishers of the murdered villagers which went to seek the bodies and register their protest against this fake encounter was shunned from the Bijapur District Collector’s office, 30 Adivasi peasants were detained for protesting against this incident. As of this writing, only 25 of them have been released. The Bijapur District Collector did not hand over the bodies of the murdered villagers, raising further suspicions regarding the Indian state’s claims.

This is not an isolated instance but is part of the escalation that began on 1st January 2024 with the initiation of Operation Kagar in Abujmarh area and the leap of Operation Samadhan-Prahar into the fascist Surajkund Scheme. A similar instance happened on the 19th January 2024. Madkam Soni, Punem Nangi from Nendra village, Bijapur and Karem Kosa from Gotum village, Bijapur were killed by the security forces when they were going to join a protest in Gorna village against the paramilitary camps being set up in their area. The state has claimed that all three individuals were Maoists. Similarly, on 27th January, Podiya Mandavi from Pedka village died in police custody after he was wrongfully detained by the police for his alleged involvement in a Maoist IED blast that took the lives of 10 police and paramilitary personnel. Villagers say that he was taken into custody while going to watch a cock fight, a common pasttime activity among the villagers. Knife marks on his body suggest he was tortured in custody and an FIR remains to be filed regarding this death even after democratic rights activists tried to do so.

The Indian state’s war against Naxalism is practically a genocidal war on people, particularly the Adivasi peasants

Since the beginning of 2024, the Indian state’s officials have thumped their chests regarding their purported successes against the Maoists, with many of their statements alleging that they are successfully killing off leading Maoists, but most such incidents are tainted with human rights violations. Be it the killings in Kanker on 16th April where 17 unarmed and injured combatants were shot dead in clear violations of the Geneva Convention, or the recent 30th April incident where allegedly 10 Maoists were killed which later turned out to be 6 Maoists and 4 Adivasi peasants who were shot dead in cold blood.

The Indian state’s “war against Naxalism” is practically a genocidal war on people, particularly the Adivasi peasants who are resisting corporate loot of India’s natural resources, the grabbing of their lands for imperialist and big Indian corporate interests and the rampant militarization in Bastar and rest of India’s resource-rich regions which aim to quell any and all resistance, armed or unarmed, towards corporatization. FACAM condemns the continuous fake encounters in the name of anti-Maoist operations.

Forum Against Corporatization and Militarization (FACAM) demands:

An independent investigation into the fake encounters that have happened since 1st January 2024 with a retired Supreme Court judge at its helm.
An end to the draconian Surajkund Scheme and Operation Samadhan-Prahar.

---

*All India Revolutionary Students Organization (AIRSO), All India Students Association (AISA), All India Revolutionary Women’s Organization (AIRWO), Ambedkar Student Association- DU (ASA-DU), Bhim Army Student Federation (BASF), Bhagat Singh Ambedkar Students Organization (BASO), Bhagat Singh Chhatra Ekta Manch (bsCEM), Collective, Common Teachers Forum (CTF), Democratic Students Union (DSU), Fraternity Movement, Nazariya Magazine, Progressive Lawyers Association (PLA), Mazdoor Adhikar Sangathan (MAS), Trade Union Centre of India (TUCI), Vishwavidyalaya Chhatra Federation (VCF)

Comments

New RTI draft rules inspired by citizen-unfriendly, overtly bureaucratic approach

By Venkatesh Nayak* The Department of Personnel and Training , Government of India has invited comments on a new set of Draft Rules (available in English only) to implement The Right to Information Act, 2005 . The RTI Rules were last amended in 2012 after a long period of consultation with various stakeholders. The Government’s move to put the draft RTI Rules out for people’s comments and suggestions for change is a welcome continuation of the tradition of public consultation. Positive aspects of the Draft RTI Rules While 60-65% of the Draft RTI Rules repeat the content of the 2012 RTI Rules, some new aspects deserve appreciation as they clarify the manner of implementation of key provisions of the RTI Act. These are: Provisions for dealing with non-compliance of the orders and directives of the Central Information Commission (CIC) by public authorities- this was missing in the 2012 RTI Rules. Non-compliance is increasingly becoming a major problem- two of my non-compliance cases are...

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu. He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

N-power plant at Mithi Virdi: CRZ nod is arbitrary, without jurisdiction

By Krishnakant* A case-appeal has been filed against the order of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and others granting CRZ clearance for establishment of intake and outfall facility for proposed 6000 MWe Nuclear Power Plant at Mithi Virdi, District Bhavnagar, Gujarat by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) vide order in F 11-23 /2014-IA- III dated March 3, 2015. The case-appeal in the National Green Tribunal at Western Bench at Pune is filed by Shaktisinh Gohil, Sarpanch of Jasapara; Hajabhai Dihora of Mithi Virdi; Jagrutiben Gohil of Jasapara; Krishnakant and Rohit Prajapati activist of the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued a notice to the MoEF&CC, Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and case is kept for hearing on August 20, 2015. Appeal No. 23 of 2015 (WZ) is filed, a...

Justice for Zubeen Garg: Fans persist as investigations continue in India and Singapore

By Nava Thakuria* Even a month after the death of Assam’s cultural icon Zubeen Garg in Singapore under mysterious circumstances, thousands of his fans and admirers across eastern India continue their campaign for “ JusticeForZubeenGarg .” A large digital campaign has gained momentum, with over two million social media users from around the world demanding legal action against those allegedly responsible. Although the Assam government has set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT), which has arrested seven people, and a judicial commission headed by Justice Soumitra Saikia of the Gauhati High Court to oversee the probe, public pressure for justice remains strong.

Gujarat agate worker, who fought against bondage, died of silicosis, won compensation

Raju Parmar By Jagdish Patel* This is about an agate worker of Khambhat in Central Gujarat. Born in a Vankar family, Raju Parmar first visited our weekly OPD clinic in Shakarpur on March 4, 2009. Aged 45 then, he was assigned OPD No 199/03/2009. He was referred to the Cardiac Care Centre, Khambhat, to get chest X-ray free of charge. Accordingly, he got it done and submitted his report. At that time he was working in an agate crushing unit of one Kishan Bhil.

Budget for 2018-19: Ahmedabad authorities "regularly" under-spend allocation

By Mahender Jethmalani* The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation’s (AMC's) General Body (Municipal Board) recently passed the AMC’s annual budget estimates of Rs 6,990 crore for 2018-19. AMC’s revenue expenditure for the next financial year is Rs 3,500 crore and development budget (capital budget) is Rs 3,490 crore.

Licy Bharucha’s pilgrimage into the lives of India’s freedom fighters

By Moin Qazi* Book Review: “Oral History of Indian Freedom Movement”, by Dr Licy Bharucha; Pp240; Rs 300; Published by National Museum of Indian Freedom Movement The Congress has won political freedom, but it has yet to win economic freedom, social and moral freedom. These freedoms are harder than the political, if only because they are constructive, less exciting and not spectacular. — Mahatma Gandhi The opening quote of the book by Mahatma Gandhi sums up the true objective of India’s freedom struggle. It also in essence speaks for the multitudes of brave and courageous individuals who aspired to get themselves jailed for the cause of the country’s freedom. A jail term was a strong testimony and credential of patriotism for them. The book has been written by Dr Licy Bharucha, an academically trained political scientist and a scholar of peace studies and Gandhian studies, who was closely associated throughout her life with those who made the struggle for India’s independence the primar...

Warning bells for India: Tribal exploitation by powerful corporate interests may turn into international issue

By Ashok Shrimali* Warning bells are ringing for India. Even as news drops in from Odisha that Adivasi villages, one after another, are rejecting the top UK-based MNC Vedanta's plea for mining, a recent move by two senior scholars Felix Padel and Samarendra Das suggests the way tribals are being exploited in India by powerful international and national business interests may become an international issue. In fact, one has only to count days when things may be taken up at the United Nations level, with India being pushed to the corner. Padel, it may be recalled, is a major British authority on indigenous peoples across the world, with several scholarly books to his credit.

Search This Blog