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VIII. Recruitment and Use of Children
The Naxalites, Salwa Judum members, and the Chhattisgarh police have recruited
and used children in different capacities that expose them to risk of injury and death.
Salwa Judum does not have any official policy for recruitment of children, but
children have actively participated in Salwa Judum meetings and raids along with
government security forces. Many eyewitnesses or victims of Salwa Judum raids said
that they saw children, some as young as age 12, among Salwa Judum members who
raided their village. 371 One woman who was beaten by Salwa Judum members
commented that children also mercilessly beat her without showing any respect for
her age. 372
In their special police officers (SPOs) program that began around June 2005, the
Chhattisgarh police began to recruit tribal camp residents, including children, to
assist the government security forces in Dantewada and Bijapur districts. 373 The
objective, it appears, was to use tribal communities’ knowledge of jungle terrain to
conduct anti-Naxalite combing operations. SPOs are deployed along with the
paramilitary police on such operations and perform roles comparable to those of the
paramilitary police. 374 Their posts entail significant risks that place children,
particularly boys who are SPOs, in the forefront of armed encounters and Naxalite
reprisals. An unknown number of underage SPOs have been killed in the conflict. 375
371 Human Rights Watch interviews with Kosambi Mukesh (pseudonym), IDP from Durma, village W6, Warangal district,
November 30, 2007; Vachcham Ragu (pseudonym), IDP from Sankanpalli, village W4, Warangal district, November 30, 2007;
Madkam Vaishali (pseudonym), IDP from Lingagiri, village K1, Khammam district, December 1, 2007.
372 Human Rights Watch interview with IDP-4 from Lingagiri (who chose to remain anonymous), village K2, Khammam district,
December 2, 2007.
373 Asian Centre for Human Rights, “The Adivasis of Chhattisgarh, Victims of the Naxalite Movement and Salwa Judum
Campaign,” 2006, http://www.achrweb.org/reports/india/Chattis0106.pdf (accessed June 7, 2006), p. 40; Independent
Citizen’s Initiative, “War in the Heart of India, An Enquiry into the Ground Situation in Dantewada District, Chhattisgarh,” 2006,
http://rightsandresources.org/blog/WarintheHeartofIndia.pdf (accessed July 16, 2007), p. 22.; Staci Martin, “Turning a Blind
Eye, Child Soldiers at War in the Maoist Conflict in India,” November 2006.
374 Human Rights Watch group interview with Irram Seethamma, Telam Suresh, and Mohin Patel (pseudonyms), SPOs, other
details withheld. Suresh and Patel described how on several occasions they were abandoned by the paramilitary police and
left to combat Naxalites during armed encounters.
375 Human Rights Watch interview with local journalist (name withheld), Chinturu, December 6, 2007.
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Human Rights Watch July 2008