Security forces stop human rights activists visiting Maoist-affected areas of Sukma

On a fact-finding mission regarding various alleged human rights violations in the Sukma and Bijapur districts of the Bastar region, sixteen human rights activists affiliated with the Coordination of Democratic Rights Organizations (CRDO) were stopped by the security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Maoist-affected Sukma.

In Dornapal, Sukma, the activists claimed that they were harassed and stopped by the security forces. The Bastar police, however, asserted that no one had been threatened and that the team had only been stopped due to a perceived Maoist threat.

The activists claimed that they were attempting to travel to the alleged sites of last month’s aerial assaults as well as the village of Silger, where three villagers were killed by police after demonstrating against the establishment of a new Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp on private property in May 2021.

On January 12, Maoists claimed in a statement that security forces had attacked villages in the Sukma and Bijapur districts with aerial strikes. The Chhattisgarh police refuted this claim and claimed that Maoists were trying to mislead locals because they were losing control of the above said districts.

As a member of the fact-finding team and a local human rights activist, Bela Bhatia said, ‘In the 36 km from Sukma to Dornapal we were stopped in all CRPF camps. Each time there were identity checks, insistence on Aadhaar cards, inordinate delays (since we were in a queue of vehicles) and arguments. We were told by the CRPF official in-charge that even though we may have informed the district authorities, it did not matter since CRPF was a central force and did not operate under state authorities.’

She added that the team arrived in Dornapal on Wednesday night, and a police officer there denied our request to proceed any further due to ‘concerns’ at the checkpoint.

‘We would be allowed to proceed only after a ROP (Road Opening Party) ascertained that there was no danger. And ROPs, we learnt later, were not allowed after 6pm. Even if we wanted to proceed, we could not because the drivers of our vehicles had also taken fright and were now refusing to accompany us any further,’ Bhatia said.

She claimed that the group also had issues with food and lodging. ‘The police caused problems on both fronts. Vacant rooms in two government rest houses were reported filled. Way-side eateries said they had run out of food. In one place, the owner was forced to throw all the rice. In another, a shop owner who gave us packed food later hurriedly drawn his shutters and told our friend not to loiter in front of his shop,’ she alleged.

‘Some local adivasis asked us to use the gram panchayat bhawan in their village, Dubbatota, 5 km from Dornapal, on the road to Sukma. But when we arrived there, we found that the Dornapal police station in-charge had reached ahead of us. He informed us that we would not be allowed to go inside Dubbatota village and could not spend the night in the gram panchayat bhawan,’ she said.

‘In the end, we slept on the ground in a shed next to the road. Police cordoned off the shed and the village,’ Bela remarked, adding that ‘the team’s harassment raised a number of issues.’