India: CASR Condemns the Murder the CC member of the CPI (Maoist), Madvi Hidma
Hereby we share the statement by the Campaign Against State Repression (CASR).
Campaign Against State Repression (CASR) Condemns the Extrajudicial Killing of CPI (Maoist) Leader Madvi Hidma; Rule of Law Cannot Be Suspended in Bastar
On 18 November 2025, Madvi Hidma, the youngest member of the Central Committee of the CPI (Maoist) and an Adivasi from Bastar, was murdered in a fake encounter along with his wife Rajakka and five other members of the party. Hidma and the others were illegally abducted when they were unarmed, from a shelter where they had been staying since the 28th of last month. They were then tortured and murdered in a fake encounter. This is a brazen violation of the rule of law, constitutional safeguards, and past Supreme Court directives.
Since the beginning of Operation Kagaar on 1 January 2024, the Brahmanical Hindutva Fascist Indian state has stepped up its killing spree in Bastar and other Adivasi areas. In its bid to crush the armed and unarmed mass movements going on against corporate plunder of natural resources and displacement in Central India, it has killed over 500 people, which includes armed and unarmed Maoists and civilians. It has made a mockery of the rule of law and civil and democratic rights.
In all these encounters and extrajudicial killings, the Indian state has repeatedly violated Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, which guarantees the right to life with dignity to every citizen. In the judgment of Om Prakash & Ors. vs. State of Jharkhand (2012), the Supreme Court said that “fake encounters are nothing but state-sponsored terrorism.” And in Prakash Kadam vs. Ramprasad Vishwanath Gupta (2011), it stated, “fake encounters are nothing but cold-blooded brutal murders by persons who are supposed to uphold the law.” In PUCL vs. State of Maharashtra (2014), the Supreme Court held that every encounter death must be treated as a case of culpable homicide and investigated through an independent FIR, a magisterial inquiry, full forensic preservation of evidence, and immediate NHRC intimation. The Court made clear that police cannot act as judge, jury, and executioner, and that the right to life under Article 21 applies even to insurgents and accused persons.
The Indian state has also repeatedly violated the guidelines of the United Nations Human Rights Declaration (UNHRD), of which it is a signatory. Operation Kagaar stands in clear violation of these standards, which require that lethal force be used only as a last resort, that all encounter deaths be independently investigated, and that even armed insurgents be guaranteed due process. Instead, Kagaar has normalised extrajudicial killings, replaced arrest with execution, and subjected Adivasi communities to indiscriminate militarisation and collective punishment. By abandoning the UN principles of necessity, proportionality, distinction, and accountability, the operation undermines the rule of law and effectively suspends fundamental rights in Bastar.
We condemn this fake encounter of Madvi Hidma and the ruthless crushing of people’s movements being conducted by Adivasi and non-Adivasi people against corporate loot.
We demand:
1. An independent committee consisting of retired judges and human rights advocates must be formed to investigate these extrajudicial killings.
2. Proper post-mortem must be conducted with full videography, and the dead bodies must be handed over to their families, unlike in the case of former Maoist Party General Secretary Nambala Keshava Rao.
3. FIRs must be registered for those security personnel responsible for the encounter killing, as per Supreme Court guidelines.
4. Operation Kagaar and the Surajkund Scheme must be immediately halted.
CAMPAIGN AGAINST STATE REPRESSION
Organising Team
(AIRSO, AISA, AISF, APCR, ASA, BASF, BSM, Bhim Army, bsCEM, CEM, COLLECTIVE, CRPP, CSM, CTF, DISSC, DSU, DTF, Forum Against Repression Telangana, Fraternity, IAPL, Innocence Network, Karnataka Janashakti, LAA, Mazdoor Adhikar Sangathan, Mazdoor Patrika, NAPM, Nazariya Magazine , Nishant Natya Manch, Nowruz, NTUI, People’s Watch, Rihai Manch, Samajwadi Janparishad, Smajwadi lok manch, Bahujan Samjavadi Mnach, SFI, United Peace Alliance, WSS, Y4S)
