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

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Since most villagers keep track of time according to seasons, including agricultural seasons, in many cases interviewees were unable to give exact months for incidents. In some cases, interviewees described incidents with Indian festivals as timeindicators, or used their grade in school as a reference point. In this report, Human Rights Watch has in several cases provided approximate times based on such information from interviewees. Human Rights Watch has used pseudonyms or withheld the names of almost all civilians, SPOs, and former Naxalites quoted in this report, consistent with our commitment to such individuals that their identity would not be revealed. Pseudonyms do not correspond to the tribe of the interviewee. Officials’ names have been included where they gave permission for them to be used. Some NGO representatives requested that they or their organizations not be identified in order to protect themselves from reprisals by government and police, and identifying information has been omitted accordingly. For security reasons, Human Rights Watch assured some interviewees that the location of the interview would not be disclosed. In this report, the names of most IDP settlements in Andhra Pradesh and some Salwa Judum camp names have not been disclosed, also at the request of interviewees who feared retribution. The interviews have been supplemented by official data supplied by Chhattisgarh government officials in response to applications filed by NGOs or individuals under the Right to Information Act, 2005. In addition to interviews with Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh state government officials, Human Rights Watch requested information regarding issues raised in this report in letters to state government officials, copies of which are provided in Appendix II. Human Rights Watch did not receive any substantive response to these letters. Terminology Unless otherwise specified, Human Rights Watch uses the phrase “government security forces” to refer to one or more of the security force units deployed in the 17 Human Rights Watch July 2008
egion between June 2005 and June 2008: Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Indian Reserve Battalions (IRBs), Chhattisgarh Armed Forces (CAF), and SPOs. It is virtually impossible for a civilian to clearly differentiate between the different types of police and other security force units and many interviewees used the broad term “police” to refer to these different forces. Human Rights Watch is not in a position to independently verify whether raids described by interviewees were conducted by the CRPF, IRBs, CAF, SPOs, or some combination thereof, and has therefore simply reproduced what interviewees told us. Human Rights Watch found that some villagers who were forcibly relocated by Salwa Judum and government security forces are living in areas that are not recognized as camps by the government even though residents of these areas consider them camps. In this report, Human Rights Watch refers to such areas as unofficial camps. In most places, this report refers to Dantewada and Bijapur districts that are now separate administrative divisions, each administered by a district collector. Until May 2007 Dantewada and Bijapur districts were part of one district—Dantewada, and administered by one district collector. Therefore, in some places, this report refers to Dantewada (undivided). It is important to note that most Indian fact-finding team reports were brought out before this administrative division; references to “Dantewada” in those reports would correspond to references to Dantewada (undivided) in this report. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced from their homes by the conflict, either within Chhattisgarh, or into neighboring Andhra Pradesh or other states. Under international law, all are technically internally displaced persons (IDPs). However, government officials and others in the region typically use the term “IDP” to refer solely to individuals who have fled from Chhattisgarh into other states. This report follows this latter practice unless otherwise indicated. Human Rights Watch follows the definition of child as given in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989; all references to children in this report are references to persons below age 18. “Being Neutral is Our Biggest Crime” 18
Page 1 and 2: India “Being Neutral is Our Bigge
Page 3 and 4: Copyright © 2008 Human Rights Watc
Page 5 and 6: VI. Plight of Persons Displaced by
Page 7 and 8: © 2008 John Emerson “Being Neutr
Page 9 and 10: Gram Panchayat/ Panchayat ICCPR ICE
Page 11 and 12: of villages in Bijapur and Dantewad
Page 13 and 14: Since 2006 local nongovernmental or
Page 15 and 16: Frightened, many villagers hid for
Page 17 and 18: Salwa Judum, particularly Salwa Jud
Page 19 and 20: of camp residents and other displac
Page 21: Vanvasi Chetna Ashram, People’s U
Page 25 and 26: through underground village committ
Page 27 and 28: health care. 17 Census data from 20
Page 29 and 30: The Naxalite problem has led to lac
Page 31 and 32: egular battalion to counter Naxalit
Page 33 and 34: NGO fact-finding teams have also ap
Page 35 and 36: The ‘Salva Judum’ movement is p
Page 37 and 38: persons also gave Human Rights Watc
Page 39 and 40: Sometimes senior police officials,
Page 41 and 42: were sick we had to go and report i
Page 43 and 44: to our village had bows and arrows,
Page 45 and 46: All able-bodied men had to particip
Page 47 and 48: them with escorts. We go with them
Page 49 and 50: there [pointing to a location about
Page 51 and 52: V. Abuses by the State Although the
Page 53 and 54: and my sister’s in the fields. My
Page 55 and 56: camps. 109 Two SPOs came forward to
Page 57 and 58: Gangi, one of the villagers, said t
Page 59 and 60: weeks [from the first visit to the
Page 61 and 62: One of the boys got beaten a lot wi
Page 63 and 64: A woman from Nendra said she saw th
Page 65 and 66: member of the fact-finding team tha
Page 67 and 68: In 2006 the Chhattisgarh government
Page 69 and 70: under Indian penal law. 163 Many NG
Page 71 and 72: independent and report because ther
Page 73 and 74:
eing beaten up by Salwa Judum membe
Page 75 and 76:
the country, to liberty and freedom
Page 77 and 78:
electricity, adult literacy centres
Page 79 and 80:
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 and 132:
Maraiguda stated that he was ordere
Page 133 and 134:
The Chhattisgarh state government r
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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