National Human Rights Commission

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Salwa Judum

NHRC

NHRC Report on Salwa Judum

In April 2007, responding to two Public Interest Litigations (Nandini Sundar et al vs State of Chhattisgarh, WP 250 of 2007, and Kartam Joga et al vs State of Chhattisgarh and Union of India, WP 119 of 2007), the Supreme Court of India asked the National Human Rights Commission to investigate and report within 8 weeks. The National Human Rights Commission, sent a team of policemen to investigate human rights abuses by police, security forces and state supported vigilantes.

In several villages, villagers ran away on seeing the 'human rights team' approach with four wheeled drives and armored tanks. However, even they found evidence of extensive arson, and the killings of a number of sangham members or unarmed village level sympathisers, who were being especially targeted by the Salwa Judum.The Supreme Court of India, in previous hearings, has been critical of vigilantism and the arming of civilians.The Government of Chhattisgarh has admitted in court that the Salwa Judum and security forces have burnt houses and agreed to compensate and rehabilitate the displaced families. Yet the Chief Minister continues to publicly justify this illegal movement. The NHRC report can be found at here.

Letter to NHRC

This article can also be found here.

The Honorable Rajendra Babu, Chairperson
National Human Rights Commission
Faridkot House, Copernicus Marg
New Delhi – 110 001

Subject: Salwa Judum Inquiry Commission

Dear Justice Babu,

We are a diverse group of organizations who had written to you earlier, on May 13, 2008, observing one year of the unjust detention of Dr. Binayak Sen. In that letter, we had highlighted the harassment of various human rights activists in India under draconian laws such as Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act (CSPSA) and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and also stated our opposition to Salwa Judum, the militia movement armed by the Chhattisgarh Government, that has resulted in massive human rights violations in the Southern districts of Chhattisgarh, created an atmosphere of violence and distrust, and led to the displacement of thousands of tribals.

We have since learned that the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has been directed by the Honorable Supreme Court, in its order dated April 15, 2008, to conduct an inquiry into allegations of atrocities committed by Salwa Judum. This is certainly an encouraging sign and we hope that an independent and impartial report from the NHRC will compel the Central Government and the State Government of Chhattisgarh to act quickly to deter the widespread violation of human rights in the region.

We take this occasion to highlight the work of other independent organizations investigating Salwa Judum. Although these organizations are independent of each other, there is a remarkable consensus in their evaluation of Salwa Judum. Their reports are a searing indictment of this vigilante army started and nurtured by the state to wage war against its own people. For instance, according to the April 2006 document ‘Where the State Makes War on its Own People’ by PUCL

On the basis of the fact-finding, three facts stood out strongly, all of which ran counter to the government’s assertions: First, it is clear that the Salwa Judum is not a spontaneous people’s movement, but a state-organized anti-insurgency campaign. Second, it is misleading to describe the situation as simply one where ordinary villagers are caught between the Maoists and the military. The Maoists have widespread support and as long as people continued to live in villages, it was difficult for the government to isolate the Maoists…Third, the entire operation, instead of being a ‘peace mission’ as it is claimed, has escalated violence on all sides. However, only the murders by Maoists are recognized, and the Salwa Judum and paramilitary operate with complete impunity.

K Balagopal

20 Dec 2008

Economic and Political Weekly

http://www.epw.in/uploads/articles/12988.pdf

The Salwa Judum phenomenon has occasioned a number of reports, most of them strongly critical and the patronage it gets from the State in Chhattisgarh. Not many who know the situation in Dantewada (now Dantewada and Bijapur) districts of the state and who are fair-minded would quarrel with the criticism, though there can be and there are differences in the assessment of what exactly the Salwa Judum signifies. But the fair-minded observer would be disturbed by the almost total absence of any critical comment on the Maoists in most of the reports.

While the fair-minded would only be disturbed, any partisan of counter-insurgency as practised in the jungles and villages of south Bastar could be expected to find it intolerable, and it was always a matter of time before someone would come out with a vengeful parody of the discomfiting silence. Such a parody has now come out, but its author is not some crony of Mahendra Karma but the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). The report produced by the NHRC after conducting an inquiry as directed by the Supreme Court easily signifies the lowest point in that institution’s decade and a half of existence.

The full report can be found here

CPJC Critique of the NHRC Report

19th Oct 2008
Campaign for Peace and Justice in Chhattisgarh
www.cpjc.wordpress.com

Since 2005 the Chhattisgarh government has claimed that the Salwa Judum is a “peaceful people’s movement”, that “the villagers are never forced to join the camps”. They claimed that no minors were appointed as SPOs. It also resisted any independent enquiry, saying “There is no failure on part of state of Chhattisgarh and therefore independent investigation is uncalled for and unwarranted.” The NHRC investigation into Salwa Judum which was carried out on the orders of the Supreme Court found that this claim by the Chhattisgarh government regarding Salwa Judum was patently false. They found prima facie evidence of large scale burning of villages, large numbers of missing people, the fact that many people had been forced into camps against their will (though most they claim have subsequently returned), and the appointment of minors as SPOs in the initial stages at least. Some Nelasnar camp residents, they note, “left the village due to atrocities committed by the Naga police.” This one example is clearly the proverbial tip of the iceberg. The NHRC investigation revealed that SPOs have been involved in “certain incidents of atrocities against the tribals” and in some instances (e.g Matwada camp killings), the security forces and SPOs seemed to be prima-facie responsible for extra judicial killings. They have also not ruled out the possibility that, as in the Matwada case, other FIRs registered could be false.

OtherIndia.org