
India: FACAM – Statement condemning the massacre of 12 people in Pujari Kanker area in Bijapur (Bastar) on January 16, 2025
We hereby share a note and a statement by the Forum Against Corporatization and Militarization (FACAM).
We share our condemnation statement on the brutal massacre of 12 people, mostly adivasis in a massive encirclement involving more than 4000 paramilitary forces during an anti-naxal operation on January 16, 2025. Encounters in these regions have time and again been proved to be fake, involving civilians and captured maoists, being killed in staged encounters. We believe that encounters as a practice should not be allowed to continue unchecked as they are a threat to the democratic fabric and due process of law on which any democratic country should function, even when dealing with an armed rebel force. Based on the photos of recovered outdated weapons and numerical strength and technical superiority of the state forces in this present “exchange of fire”, we believe that this killing was entirely uncalled for when the forces could have clearly subdued and arrested these people, thereby allowing the due process of law to take its course in ascertaining their culpability, if any. Such practices of mass killings in the form of encounters are nothing but summary executions where the security forces have become the judge, jury and the executioners themselves. such practices and even more, celebration of such practices as success, are very dangerous for any democratic society as it removes the checks on state practices and grants impunity which can lead to sharpening of state’s authoritarian trends.
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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)

