âBeing Neutral is Our Biggest Crimeâ - Global Coalition to Protect ...

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Many SPOs are injured. When they are injured, they are given treatment for two days and then they are brought to the house and left —no one to take care of them or ask about them. Sometimes, if they are injured very badly, then they lose their job [otherwise they continue to be employed].… For example, if my right arm is blown, I cannot carry a huge rifle with one hand so they will put me on duty with a small gun. How does that help? That is more dangerous for us. But the government does not care. We have not heard about any group insurance scheme for SPOs. 427 Another SPO who was injured in an armed encounter with Naxalites stated that he got some government assistance but had to pay for a lot of his medical treatment out of his own pocket. 428 Freedom to resign from SPO posts The Dantewada superintendent of police maintained that SPOs had the freedom to resign in case they chose to do so. 429 Some SPOs felt that they could give a resignation letter and leave. 430 They said that four or five SPOs resigned from their police station because they got permanent jobs in government offices. 431 However, NGO sources working in Dantewada and Bijapur districts stated that in some cases SPOs who were scared of being caught in the crossfire between Naxalites and police had run away, been forcibly brought back to the camp by other SPOs, and had been forced to continue their service. 432 They also felt that it was harder for SPOs who were former sangam members to desert and return to their villages. 433 427 Ibid. 428 Human Rights Watch interview with SPO5 (who chose to remain anonymous), other details withheld. 429 Human Rights Watch interview with Rahul Sharma, second interview, February 1, 2008. 430 Human Rights Watch group interview with Irram Seethamma, Telam Suresh, and Mohin Patel (pseudonyms). 431 Ibid. 432 Human Rights Watch group interview GR8 with volunteers working in camps (name and details withheld). 433 Ibid. 127 Human Rights Watch July 2008
The Chhattisgarh state government response Government officials maintained that underage SPOs were no longer a part of their SPO force. In fact, Vishwa Ranjan, the state director general of police even denied that underage SPOs were recruited and reasoned that tribal youth appeared younger than they actually were: There are many reports of underage SPOs but it’s not true. Age is very difficult to assess. Tribal communities have a peculiar way of aging. They look very young even if they are not very young and then after a particular age, they begin to age very fast—so suddenly they look very old when they are actually not that old. We ask people what their age is and verify it with the sarpanch. 434 However, the Dantewada Superintendent of Police Sharma conceded that there had been recruitment of underage SPOs and stated that the police department had taken action to identify and remove such SPOs from their posts: A small percentage of SPOs were underage. It was a bona fide mistake. Now they have all been removed. We got strict instructions from the MHA [Ministry of Home Affairs]. You tell us what we can do—if we ask them [applicants for SPO posts] for their age they say something like “I was born in winter.” We cannot go by their height and looks because the tribal build is different. They are also not educated and so we have reduced their educational qualification to allow them to be SPOs—they should have passed class five. However, we have tried to look at available records and have removed those that appear to be underage from the force. 435 434 Human Rights Watch interview with Vishwa Ranjan, December 17, 2007. Nandini Sundar and others v. State of Chhattisgarh, Counter Affidavit on Behalf of Respondent, January 22, 2008, p. 311, para. 5(e); p. 315, para. 6. 435 Human Rights Watch interview with Rahul Sharma, second interview, February 1, 2008. See also, National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), “Visit to Dantewada (Chhattisgarh) and Khammam (Andhra Pradesh) to Investigate Status of Health and Education of Children affected by Civil Unrest, December 17-19, 2007” report, March 2008, p. 11. The NCPCR report states: “With regard to violation of children’s rights the Committee [NCPCR] would like to specifically note that in reference to the practice of the recruitment of children under 18 years of age as SPOs, the government and police agreed that this had occurred in the past due to lack of strong protocols on age validation but assured us that these have now been strictly enforced.” “Being Neutral is Our Biggest Crime” 128
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India “Being Neutral is Our Bigge
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Copyright © 2008 Human Rights Watc
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VI. Plight of Persons Displaced by
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© 2008 John Emerson “Being Neutr
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Gram Panchayat/ Panchayat ICCPR ICE
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of villages in Bijapur and Dantewad
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Since 2006 local nongovernmental or
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Frightened, many villagers hid for
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Salwa Judum, particularly Salwa Jud
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of camp residents and other displac
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Vanvasi Chetna Ashram, People’s U
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egion between June 2005 and June 20
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through underground village committ
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health care. 17 Census data from 20
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The Naxalite problem has led to lac
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egular battalion to counter Naxalit
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NGO fact-finding teams have also ap
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The ‘Salva Judum’ movement is p
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persons also gave Human Rights Watc
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Sometimes senior police officials,
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were sick we had to go and report i
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to our village had bows and arrows,
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All able-bodied men had to particip
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them with escorts. We go with them
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there [pointing to a location about
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V. Abuses by the State Although the
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and my sister’s in the fields. My
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camps. 109 Two SPOs came forward to
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Gangi, one of the villagers, said t
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weeks [from the first visit to the
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One of the boys got beaten a lot wi
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A woman from Nendra said she saw th
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member of the fact-finding team tha
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In 2006 the Chhattisgarh government
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under Indian penal law. 163 Many NG
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independent and report because ther
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eing beaten up by Salwa Judum membe
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the country, to liberty and freedom
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electricity, adult literacy centres
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only 10 health workers to attend to
Page 81 and 82: dependent upon the state for their
Page 83 and 84: camps were started. 233 Assuming th
Page 85 and 86: Impediments to return The Chhattisg
Page 87 and 88: villagers’ access to markets maki
Page 89 and 90: 1. Prior to carrying out evictions,
Page 91 and 92: our huts. About 10 forest departmen
Page 93 and 94: A volunteer with an NGO that provid
Page 95 and 96: met with further retributive measur
Page 97 and 98: Despite the court’s orders, fores
Page 99 and 100: for at least 100 days a year. 303 T
Page 101 and 102: In many places, displaced persons d
Page 103 and 104: Naxalites beat and kill villagers,
Page 105 and 106: that they rubbed small stones [grav
Page 107 and 108: Similarly, Naxalites beat and haras
Page 109 and 110: not kill my uncle. They threatened
Page 111 and 112: 100 meters. The tractor driver—an
Page 113 and 114: near the Boddiguda dam. We were abo
Page 115 and 116: Errabore camp on July 17, 2006, whe
Page 117 and 118: E. CPI (Maoist) Party statements Hu
Page 119 and 120: for this reason we are compelled to
Page 121 and 122: The Naxalites do not deny the recru
Page 123 and 124: I have seen SPOs younger than me in
Page 125 and 126: The recruitment process The nationa
Page 127 and 128: I became an SPO last year in March
Page 129 and 130: of them. My brother actually surviv
Page 131: Maraiguda stated that he was ordere
Page 135 and 136: ecruitment, but Naxalites pressure
Page 137 and 138: When he was part of the bal sangam
Page 139 and 140: I joined when I was 15 years old. I
Page 141 and 142: When Veka Idma was about age 12 or
Page 143 and 144: later on when I became a dalam memb
Page 145 and 146: Naxalites’ policy regarding recru
Page 147 and 148: IX. Impact of the Conflict on Educa
Page 149 and 150: other villages which do not have sc
Page 151 and 152: The ITDA project officer for Khamma
Page 153 and 154: uses all authority at its disposal
Page 155 and 156: To the Chhattisgarh state governmen
Page 157 and 158: • Release complete information, u
Page 159 and 160: • Cooperate with UNICEF and other
Page 161 and 162: HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH 350 Fifth Avenue
Page 163 and 164: ) Chhattisgarh government assists t
Page 165 and 166: protect the rights of the displaced
Page 167 and 168: HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH 350 Fifth Avenue
Page 169 and 170: government investigated any allegat
Page 171 and 172: “Being Neutral is Our Biggest Cri
Page 173 and 174: We acknowledge with gratitude the f
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