India: FACAM Demands Judicial Enquiry Into Alleged Encounter In Indravati
We hereby share a statement published by the Forum Against Corporatization and Militarization (FACAM).
On Thursday, December 12, 2024, the BJP led Chhattisgarh Government and the Bastar IG Sunderraj P claimed that a contingent of 1000 personnel belonging to District Reserve Guards, Special Task Force and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) from camps in Dantewada, Narayanpur, Kondagaon and Jagdalpur acted on “inputs about large gathering of Maoists in Abujhmad” and killed 7 Maoists in an “exchange of fire”. Since the claims made by the state forces, Maoists have also come out with a statement on December 13, alleging that 4000 security forces were engaged in combing operations in the Indravati Area of Abujhmad from 11th-13th December, 2024. Maoists have claimed that the security forces first killed a villager named Masa Oyam, after indiscriminately firing at villagers in Lekaveda village. They also claimed that a senior Maoist leader Kartik (62) was ill, unarmed and recuperating, when the paramilitary forces captured him and his aid Rameela Madkam in Kummam Jungleon December 12, 2024 and later killed them brutally. They have also alleged that expect these two unarmed cadres, other 5 were ordinary villagers engage in agricultural practices and were killed by security forces; one in Lekaveda and 4 in Kummam village near by Kummam Jungle where they allege that their two cadres were captured alive and then killed. They also claim that multiple villagers, including minors have also been injured in the indiscriminate attack by the security forces.
Claims of the Maoists have been corroborated by independent testimonies of the villagers and presence of injured villagers including children, who have also alleged that there was no exchange of fire between the Maoists and the security forces and the security forces indiscriminately fired upon them. On December 15, a video circulated by Adivasi activist Soni Sori shows her taking the injured villagers, including children, across Indravati river to get them treatment. The children sustained severe bomb shrapnel injury in their head, neck, thighs and buttocks. Soni Sori informed that the injured were brought to Bhairamgarh town on December 14 to be treated, where the security personnel surrounded the medical centre and tried to force the medical personnel to write that the injuries were caused by bombs exploded by Maoists, despite the children repeatedly stating that the police personnel attacked them. An injured girl, having a shrapnel stuck in her neck was taken by security forces to Jagdalpur, where nobody is allowed to meet her. Human Rights Activist Himanshu Kumar asks which country do these children belong to? Syria, Lebanon, Palestine. He goes on to say that the police personnel responsible for such atrocities will not be punished but the activist that fights against such atrocities, hinting towards imposition of 5 lakh rupees fine on him by Supreme Court for petitioning for enquiry into Gompad Massacre, where 16 people including children were butchered by security forces on October 1, 2009.
It is important to understand why the Maoists who always accept the loss of their cadres and hail it as sacrifice have alleged that only 2 out of 7 killed were their members? It is equally important to ask how the allegations made out by Maoist are matching to the testimonies of the injured villagers. And it is also very important to wonder that why is Maoist’s acceptance of more losses in combat with security forces is readily accepted by government and its forces such as in the case of Nendur-Thulthuli encounter in October, 2024 where Maoist accepted more losses than the security forces claimed; but when Maoists claim that their cadres were captured and killed or only 2 out of 7 killed were their cadres, why such claims are rubbished as misleading by security forces? Is it all not a way to escape accountability and scrutiny on the government’s ongoing brutal military operations that have been, time and again, accused of indiscriminate killings in the name of countering Maoists. Be it the past examples of Sarkeguda or Edesmetta fake encounters or the recent examples of Pidiya and other such fake encounters, the history demands us to look beyond the government’s projected narrative and demand judicial probe into such killings to ensure that a person, even a Maoist, cannot be dealt in such manner by security forces who have become the “Judge-jury-executioners” in themselves. Because such acts of encounters should find no place in a country that is supposed to run on democratic principles and due process of law.
Forum Against Corporatization and Militarisation (FACAM) strongly condemns the trigger happy action of security forces that led to the fake encounter killing of 5 villagers and 2 captured Maoists as well as severe injury to other villagers, including children.
We demand the following:
>> Constitute an independent inquiry committee headed by a retired High Court or Supreme Court Judge to investigate into the allegation of fake encounter of December 12, 2024in Indravati Area.
>> Suspend the security personnel responsible for the encounter, pending enquiry and trial under criminal charges if found guilty.
>> Grant compensation to the family of the deceased and provide proper medical care to the injured personnel.
>> Halt military operations like Operation Kagar and engage in political discourse with the CPI (Maoist). (The resolution to the questions posed by the Maoist movement cannot be reached militarily)
FORUM AGAINST CORPORATIZATION AND MILITARIZATION (FACAM)
Constituents: 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)
