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An all India team looking into the reality of the alleged violations of human rights and its impact on peoples lives in the course of the Salwa Judum in Dantewada district conducted an investigation between 28th  November and 1st December. The 14 member team met local people in camps as well as in their villages, people arrested during the operation, leaders of Salwa Judum, Police and Civil Administration officials (Collector, SDM).

Following are the main findings of the team.

1. The Salwa Judum is far from the spontaneous uprising of tribals against Maoists that it is claimed to be. It is an organized, state managed enterprise that has precedents in the Jan Jagaran Abhiyans that have occurred earlier under the leadership of Mahendra Karma. The Collector himself has been part of 75% of the Salwa Judum meetings and security forces have been backing the Judum’s meetings. The main cadre of Salwa Judum are comprised of Special Police Officers who are being paid and armed by the state, at a rate that is standard in counter insurgency operations across the country.

2. The Salwa Judum has led to the forcible displacement of people throughout Dantewada, Geedam and Bijapur areas, under police and administrative supervision.  According to official estimates approximately 15,000 people from 420 villages are living as refugees in temporary camps. People have left behind their cattle and most of their household goods. The entire area is being cleared of inhabitants even as new roads are being built and more police and para-military stations are being set up. The region is being turned into one large cantonment. In many places regular economic activities like weekly haats have stopped.

3. There is a pattern in the dislocation: when Salwa Judum meetings are called, people from neighbouring villages are asked to be present. The meetings are accompanied by heavy security forces. Villages which refuse to participate face repeated attacks by the combined forces of Salwa Judum, the district force and the Naga battalion. In addition, there are separate raids by the Naga Battalion. These raids result in looting, arson and killings in many instances. In some villages, the raids continue till the entire village is cleared while in other cases, only old people, women and children are left. Many villages are coming to camps to avoid these attacks in the first place.

4. Once in camps, people have no choice but to support the Salwa Judum. Some of them are forced to work as informers against members of their own and neighbouring villages and participate in attacks against them, leading to permanent divisions within villages.  Individual families are sometimes being split between Judum supporters and those who wish to remain in their villages. We also came across instances where young people were taken away from the village by the Salwa Judum and their families are unaware of their whereabouts.

5. It is frightening to note the collapse of civil administration in many parts of Dantewada District. Salwa Judum members man check points on roads, search people’s belongings   and control the flow of traffic and buses. They enforce an economic blockade on villages that resist coming to camps. They also try to force civil officials to follow their dictat.

6. FIRs registering the looting, burning, beatings/torture by Salwa Judum mobs and the security forces are not recorded. We were told of specific instances where Security Forces threw dead bodies inside or near villages. These killings are not reported, and therefore hard to corroborate. Some reports suggest that 96 people from 34 villages have been killed. However, the only killings that are officially recorded are those by Maoists.   In the period since Salwa Judum started, it is true that the killings by Maoists have gone up substantially and the official figure today stands at 70. Rather than being a “peace mission” as is claimed, the Salwa Judum has created a situation where violence has escalated.

7.  The Salwa Judum is strongly supported by certain sections of Bastar society. This section comprises of some non-adivasi immigrant settlers from other parts of India, sarpanches and traditional leaders whose power has been threatened by the Maoists, powerful local politicians like Karma, and his network of supporters. Both the local Congress and the BJP are supporting the Salwa Judum together.

8. Militarisation: We have heard from several high ranking officials that there is an undeclared war on in Bastar, and we fear that the worst is yet to come. There is a heavy presence of the paramilitary like the CRPF and the Naga Battalion. This creates a situation where forces from other states are behaving like an occupation army. We ourselves saw a number of cattle and people being herded by the Naga Battalion after a raid. They slaughtered one cow on the main road in full view of all present.

In addition, people are being encouraged to carry arms. Village defence committees are being created, SPOs are being trained and armed, and the entire society is becoming more militaristic.

9. Although Chhattisgarh is claimed to be a tribal state, adivasi society and culture is being actively destroyed. People, for whom the earth of their village is sacred, are being forcibly removed from it, and the whole social fabric is being torn.  

We demand:

1. Stop militarisation of society in Bastar/Dantewada, which is pitting adivasis against each other as part of an anti-Naxal operation, and using people as a shield.

2. Hold a judicial enquiry into all killings committed by the Salwa Judum/Security Forces combine, which have gone unrecorded. 3. The CPI (Maoist) provide details of all persons killed by them.

This article appeared in Movement of India, February 2006.  Gabriele Dietrich works at the Social Analysis Center at the Tamil Nadu Theological Seminary in Madurai, and with Pennurimai Iyakkam. 

Gabriele Dietrich talked about National Alliance of People's Movements at AID India 1999 conference.

A note from Himanshu Kumar of VCA and the FIRs filed by villagers whose paddy stock was burnt.

Our democratic government is too sensitive to leave anyone out of celebrating Holi, so in Dantewada it itself played Holi with poor tribals by burning their paddy stock in Chinger village across Indavati river on 9th March SPOs and police burnt all paddy of all villagers. We found people crying and taking shelter under the tree as their houses were already burnt down by Salwa Judum.