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

More documents

Recommendations

Info

ecause of the trouble there and that we could not stay here. We told them that we had the permission of village elders to live here. The officials said that village elders’ permission did not matter … the officials set fire to all the huts. 279 In their efforts to evict displaced persons, forest officials burned not only IDP hamlets but also all their personal belongings without showing any concern for their plight. A displaced person from Kothooru described to Human Rights Watch how they starved because their food grains were burned along with their money: One of the villagers had saved 5,000 rupees (roughly US$125) and they burned that also. When they were about to burn everything, we begged them to at least allow us to take our food grains and money but they beat us more and set everything on fire. They also took away our poultry, goats, and cattle … We had no where to go and so every time our huts were burned, we used to stay under the trees over here. One time they came during the monsoons—we stayed under the trees for three days because we could not go out and get help. The nearest help is 14 kilometers away. So we starved for three days. 280 Another displaced person in Khammam district bitterly recalled how officials burned his life’s savings and showed us its charred remains: See this [holding burned currency notes] … They put all our belongings in the fire and burned it. First time I had 7,700 rupees [roughly US$192] and they burned it. When I begged them and told them all my savings were there, the [forest] ranger said, “Let it burn. We will burn everything else.” 281 279 Human Rights Watch interview with Dilip (pseudonym), IDP from Barrem, village W4, Warangal district, November 30, 2007. 280 Human Rights Watch group interview with Prakash (pseudonym) and another villager (who chose to remain anonymous), IDPs from Kannaiguda, Kothooru, Khammam district, December 4, 2007. 281 Human Rights Watch interview with IDP-3 from Nendra (who chose to remain anonymous), village K7, Khammam district, December 5, 2007. 87 Human Rights Watch July 2008
A volunteer with an NGO that provides humanitarian assistance to displaced persons described how they gathered and distributed clothes to them at least three times because officials burned their clothes every time. “They would not leave a shred of cloth except what was on their bodies,” she said. 282 Forest officials not only burned IDP hamlets in their attempts to evict them but also beat and forced displaced persons into trucks, and dropped them to locations closer to the Chhattisgarh-Andhra Pradesh state boundary. The divisional forest officer of Bhadrachalam admitted to such relocations but described them as peaceful: “Usually we give notice and take our lorry [truck], go and take them [IDPs], and peacefully leave them in the borders.” 283 However, Human Rights Watch found that displaced persons were often beaten or detained to facilitate such relocation. One man, speaking for a group of displaced persons from a village in Warangal district, recounted how they were detained, presumably to prevent protests during relocation: In June or July 2007, four forest officials came here and took away the adult males to the [forest] range office and locked us in a room overnight. The next day, the children and women were taken, loaded in a truck, dropped in Cherla, and threatened. After forcibly putting people in trucks, the forest officials burned our huts. They burned about twelve huts and left five or six huts. The women and children walked for two days to return to the village. 284 A displaced person from a village in Khammam district described how he was brutally beaten: The [forest] department people came with villagers [from a village nearby]. There were about 8-10 forest department people and around 20-25 villagers. They came in the afternoon, surrounded the village, 282 Human Rights Watch interview with Sarojini Haneef, Sitara Organization, Chinturu, December 5, 2007. 283 Human Rights Watch interviews with B. Shafiullah, December 7, 2007. The sub-collector of Khammam expressed similar views: Human Rights Watch interview with K. Bhaskar, December 7, 2007. 284 Human Rights Watch group interview with numerous IDPs (who chose to remain anonymous), village W2, village W2, Warangal district, November 29, 2007. “Being Neutral is Our Biggest Crime” 88
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 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 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: our huts. About 10 forest departmen
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
show all

âBeing Neutral is Our Biggest Crimeâ - Global Coalition to Protect ...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?

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