Santoshi Markam 
New Delhi: On December 11 and 12, security forces claimed to have killed seven Maoists in an encounter in the Kummam-Lekavda villages of Abujhmad, located on the border of Narayanpur and Bijapur districts in Chhattisgarh. However, local people and tribal activists have alleged that five of the deceased were not Maoists but ordinary village residents. At least four minor villagers have also been confirmed injured in this controversial operation.
All of those killed in this encounter are from the Madia tribal community, which is classified as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG).
In a statement issued by the police on December 14, the names of the five deceased villagers were given as – Rainu, Somaru alias Motu, Somari, Gudsa, and Kamlesh alias Kohla. According to the police, their ‘designation’ was ‘PM’, which means Maoist in the local context. The police also claimed that there was a reward of Rs 2 lakh on each of them. As per the police statement, Rainu, Kohla, Somaru and Somari hailed from Kummam village while Gudsa was a resident of Diwalur village.
However, The Wire Hindi has received some videos of conversation with locals, in which they have claimed that four of the deceased are from Kummam village while one is from the Lekwada village.
According to the villagers, out of the seven killed, five – four men and one woman – were ordinary villagers. They were Masa, Motu, Gudsa, Kohla and Somari, they said.
According to data released by the Chhattisgarh Police, more than 220 Maoists have been killed in encounters so far in the Bastar region in 2024, which is the highest annual figure during the last several years. A BBC report quotes the Union home ministry as stating that 125 Maoists were killed in 2018, 79 in 2019, 44 in 2020, 48 in 2021, and 31 in 2022.
The Union government views these killings as successes, with Union home minister Amit Shah saying about two months ago that the government aims to eradicate Maoism by March 2026.
In a conversation with local activists, the relatives of the deceased said that in order to collect the bodies of their deceased relatives they had to walk for several hours from far-flung areas of Abujhmad to Bhairamgarh tehsil of Bijapur district. Bhairamgarh is where they met the activists. They said that police have still not handed them the bodies of their kin and families are still unaware of where the bodies have been kept.
Sudhani, the wife of one of the deceased, Masa (whose name is most likely recorded as Rainu in the police statement), said, “Threshing was going on for Kosara paddy. Some people had gone to the river to fetch water. My husband Masa was also with them. That’s when they shot and killed him. There were 10-15 of us at the field. The security forces completely surrounded us and did not let anyone leave. They asked us to stay there. The police seized our Aadhaar cards and also took Rs 10,000 from us.”
Sudhani. Photo: By arrangement.
Minors injured
After getting the news of the incident, activist Soni Sori arrived at the Kummam village. While talking to The Wire Hindi, she claimed that six people are still in police custody and neither their names nor photographs have been released.
Soni Sori said that once at Kumman – only on December 14 – she had to rush four injured children, aged between 8 and 14 years, to Bhairamgarh Community Health Centre, where they received first aid. They were then referred to various hospitals. “There is neither any transport nor any government facility available in this far off forested area. We carried the injured to the health centre on cots,” she said.
A shrapnel-like object is stuck to the throat of Ramli Oyam (12), from Kumman. Sonu Oyam (8), another resident of Kummam village, has a deep wound on his head. Chaitram Oyam (14) from Lekwada village was shot in the buttocks. Raju Nandam, from Diwalur village, has bullet wounds in his hands and legs, according to locals. The medical reports of the injured suggest that they have been wounded by some ‘foreign particle’ but do not mention what.
Of these four injured, two are being treated in Dantewada and one in Jagdalpur, while Ramli Oyam has been referred to a hospital in Raipur. The X-ray confirming the presence of a bullet or shrapnel in Ramli’s neck can be seen below.
The X-ray confirming the presence of a bullet or shrapnel in Ramli’s neck. Photo: by arrangement.
One-sided firing
Soni Sori said that on December 11, a large number of personnel from the security forces stationed in Dantewada, Bijapur and Narayanpur districts went to the forests around Kummam, Lekwada, Diwalur villages of Rekavai Panchayat. “People had gone to the fields in the morning. The firing started at around 8 am or 9 am. The villagers claim that it was not cross firing ]between Maoists and police], but that firing was only from one side,” she said.
The injured children were notably in the village till December 14, when tribal activists managed to finally bring them to Bhairamgarh. The police brought the bodies, but left the injured there, the activists allege, adding that there are many injured in the village even now. The activists were able to bring only the injured children. Meanwhile, some people are also reported missing.
“When I asked them to take the injured to the hospital, the villagers asked for a guarantee that they will not be put in jail,’ Soni Sori said.
The organisation Campaign for Peace and Justice has issued a statement stating that when the police press note was shown to the villagers, they were able to identify the dead as their relatives. Based on the evidence of activists like Soni Sori, the statement says that after the injured were taken to the hospital, the entire hospital premises were cordoned off by the police so that no one could meet the injured children.
Minors and villagers used as human shields, claims the police
Meanwhile, on the evening of December 17, the police issued a press note claiming that the Maoists used minors and villagers as human shields to save the life of “senior Naxal [a word used interchangeably with Maoist] cadre, Kartik.”
The statement also said, “The villagers were brought along to carry the goods of the Naxalites and during the encounter, they fired on the security forces using those villagers as cover. In this four villagers were injured in the firing of the Naxalites.”
In a report published in the Indian Express on December 18, a senior police officer was quoted as saying: “Four minors were injured by shrapnel in the encounter. They were injured by the shrapnel of the barrel grenade launcher used by the Maoists. One of the girls suffered a neck injury, so she was referred to Raipur.”
Don’t target innocent citizens: T.S. Singhdeo
Senior Congress leader and former deputy chief minister of Chhattisgarh T.S. Singhdeo has expressed concern over the incident.
In a post shared on Instagram, he said, “Setting targets gives rise to such dangers…The Naxal problem needs to be resolved, but it cannot be done at the cost of civilian lives…Innocent civilians cannot be allowed to become collateral damage under any circumstances…It is extremely sad that the people who were seriously injured on the 11th could reach Raipur only yesterday.”
Allegations of fake encounter not new
Indeed, this is not the first time that villagers in the region have alleged that an encounter claimed by police to be real was staged. On February 25 in Kanker district, the police had claimed that three ‘Naxalites’ were killed on a hill between Bhomra-Hurtarai villages of Koylibeda police station area in an encounter with security personnel during an anti-Naxal operation.
However, local people and relatives of the deceased accused the police of carrying out a fake encounter.
The deceased were identified as Rameshwar Negi, a native of Marda village, and Suresh Teta and Anil Kumar Hidko of Parvi village of the area.
Similarly, in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, security forces claimed to have killed 12 alleged Maoists in an encounter on May 10. The relatives of the deceased had alleged that this was a fake encounter and said that 10 out of the 12 deceased were residents of Pidia and Itawar villages and were farmers.
On February 7, 2019, in an alleged encounter in Tadballa of Abujhmad, the police claimed to have killed 10 Maoists. The villagers had called it a well-planned attack alleging that the bodies of the 10 youths killed were mutilated and that the dead girls had likely been sexually assaulted.
In May 2013, in Adsametta village of Bijapur, about 1,000 security forces personnel opened fire on tribal people celebrating the ‘Vijja Pandum’ festival. Eight tribal people were killed. The security forces had said that all of them were Maoists and they had taken this action in response to the firing by Maoists. But an investigation by a retired high court judge revealed that this encounter was fake and none of the dead were Maoists.
In another case, 17 people, including six minors, were killed by security forces in Sarkeguda of Bijapur district in June 2012. On the night of June 28, tribals had gathered for a festival. The security forces mistook it for a Maoist meeting and started firing. An investigation revealed that none of the dead were Maoists.
Translated from the Hindi original, which appeared on The Wire Hindi, by Naushin Rehman.