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them. When he was around age 15, they told him that he had to join the sangam in
his village. Veera said that he tried to refuse but was given no choice: “They said,
‘We have already added your name.’” 462 He continued to study but participated in
sangam activities. When he was in class six, Naxalites recruited him as a teacher for
a school run by them. 463
Satyam David felt that “Naxalites used to stop us [children] from studying,
particularly when we went to ashram schools outside the village.” 464 On January 25,
2007, when he was in class nine (roughly age 14 or 15) he was forcibly taken out of
school and brought to a Naxalite camp in the jungle. They called a people’s court
and accused him of being a police informer and said that he should be killed. His
family begged some sangam members to intercede, and he was spared. However, he
was told to stay in the village and not return to school—“People used to follow me all
the time. I was forced to attend [sangam] meetings.” 465 Eventually, Satyam David was
recruited as a jan militia member.
Lingu Gopal was around age 14 or 15 when Naxalites came to his village in 2000 or
2001 and announced his name among those of several other boys and girls who had
been selected to join a jan militia group. Before that he had already been deployed
as an informer: “We used to be on sentry duty to check on police movements. We
used special whistles and drum beats to inform the sangam members.” 466 He
claimed that he initially told Naxalites that he did not want to be part of a jan militia
but had no choice: “They [Naxalites] said, ‘Why will you not join? Do you want to join
the police?’ I was scared and so I went.” 467
462 Human Rights Watch interview with Veera Etishan (pseudonym).
463 Ibid.
464 Human Rights Watch interview with Satyam David (pseudonym).
465 Ibid.
466 Human Rights Watch interview with Lingu Gopal (pseudonym), former Naxalite, other details withheld.
467 Ibid.
135
Human Rights Watch July 2008