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

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asking me to show them where Naxalites were, and threatened to kill me. They did this for about 30 minutes. 135 He said that the police subsequently took him to the police station, called some Salwa Judum members, and asked them whether they recognized him. Since he had met some of them at village cockfights on market days, they recognized him, and told the police he was not a Naxalite. The police then released him. He said that he saw around 100 detainees kept in a thatched-roof shed inside the police station compound. 136 Tati Somesh from Sunnamguda said that the police detained him for 18 days, beat him, and tortured him with electrical charges: In 2005, the police took me to the Konta police station. They said I was a Naxalite. One afternoon when I was having tea in a roadside shack two policemen came and took me in a vehicle. They put me in a room in the police station and started beating me. Five people wearing uniforms beat me. They beat me with rods and also ran electric current through my body…. They kept me in the police station for 18 days. They beat me on my face and head till I started bleeding from my nose. They were all drunk at night and asked me where I had planted bombs. They told me that they will give me lots of money—lakhs and lakhs [hundreds of thousands] if I admitted to having planted bombs. When they beat me, I became unconscious. Later they passed electric current through my body—they put the rods on my hands and on my buttocks. Throughout I was handcuffed and kept in a room…. They did not lodge any case against me. After I was released I stayed in my house for a few days, and left my village. 137 135 Human Rights Watch interview with IDP-2 from Lingagiri (who chose to remain anonymous), village K1, Khammam district, December 1, 2007. 136 Ibid. 137 Human Rights Watch interview with Tati Somesh (pseudonym), IDP from Sunnamguda, village K11, Khammam district, December 8, 2007. 57 Human Rights Watch July 2008
A woman from Nendra said she saw the police take away her sister in 2006. As of December 2007 there was no news of her whereabouts. The guidelines issued by the Supreme Court of India in D.K. Basu’s case state that the relatives or friends of a detainee have the right to know the location where a detainee is being held. Since the police did not disclose any information about the fate of the detainee or the location, the detention is considered an enforced disappearance under international law. 138 Describing how her sister was taken away, the eyewitness said, When they [police] came the second time, my sister and I were picking [vegetables] in the fields. Police came and I just managed to run away. When I turned around and saw, they had caught my younger sister and she was being taken away. She was about 16 or 17 years old then. I did not wait to see anything else because I was scared and I kept running. She did not come back at all…. We have no news of her until today. On the same day they took 10 people from old Nendra. I knew one of them—Veko Dhula, about 50 years old. I do not know the others personally. We heard that they were taken to the Errabore police station but after that we do not know what happened to them. We have had no news of these 10 people. 139 C. Failure of the government to investigate abuses Even though Chhattisgarh state government officials maintain that they “are committed to the Rule of Law” and “[t]here is no failure on the part of State of Chhattisgarh [to investigate] and therefore independent investigation is uncalled for and unwarranted,” 140 police and other state government officials were unable to provide Human Rights Watch with any information regarding the investigation or prosecution of members of government security forces or Salwa Judum for human rights abuses and crimes. Several NGO fact-finding teams have exposed these 138 See International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, adopted September 23, 2005, E/CN.4/2005/WG.22/WP.1/Rev.4 (2005). India signed but has yet to ratify the convention. 139 Human Rights Watch interview with Modiyam Geeta (pseudonym), IDP from Nendra, village K10, Khammam district, December 7, 2007. 140 Nandini Sundar and others v. State of Chhattisgarh, Sur-Rejoinder on Behalf of Respondent State of Chhattisgarh, April 10, 2008, p. 519, para. 15. “Being Neutral is Our Biggest Crime” 58
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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
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
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Page 21 and 22: Vanvasi Chetna Ashram, People’s U
Page 23 and 24: egion between June 2005 and June 20
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: One of the boys got beaten a lot wi
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
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Page 77 and 78: electricity, adult literacy centres
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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
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near the Boddiguda dam. We were abo
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Errabore camp on July 17, 2006, whe
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E. CPI (Maoist) Party statements Hu
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for this reason we are compelled to
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The Naxalites do not deny the recru
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I have seen SPOs younger than me in
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The recruitment process The nationa
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I became an SPO last year in March
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of them. My brother actually surviv
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Maraiguda stated that he was ordere
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The Chhattisgarh state government r
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ecruitment, but Naxalites pressure
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When he was part of the bal sangam
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I joined when I was 15 years old. I
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When Veka Idma was about age 12 or
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later on when I became a dalam memb
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Naxalites’ policy regarding recru
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IX. Impact of the Conflict on Educa
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other villages which do not have sc
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The ITDA project officer for Khamma
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uses all authority at its disposal
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To the Chhattisgarh state governmen
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• Release complete information, u
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• Cooperate with UNICEF and other
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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH 350 Fifth Avenue
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) Chhattisgarh government assists t
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protect the rights of the displaced
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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH 350 Fifth Avenue
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government investigated any allegat
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“Being Neutral is Our Biggest Cri
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We acknowledge with gratitude the f
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