Hyderabad, April 15: Condemning the police brutality in three Chhattisgarh villages recently, the Human Rights Forum today demanded the government to adopt a political approach to the Maoist problem instead of violent suppression that has been the state’s principal response.
A two-member fact-finding team of the HRF visited Tarmetla and Morpalli villages in Konta block of Dantewada district in Chhattisgarh on April 5 to enquire into reports of arson, rape and killings in the area in March. The team spoke with residents of the two villages.
The team found that contrary to assertions by the government functionaries, it was personnel of the Koya Commandos, Cobra (Combat Battalion for Resolute Action) and special police officers (SPOs) who had raided three villages. The attackers killed three adivasi farmers, sexually assaulted three adivasi women of Morpalli and Tarmetla and set on fire over 290 houses.
The HRF team also tried to determine the veracity of media reports that six adivasis of Morpalli had died of starvation following the attack by security forces on March 11. The people informed the team that three villagers, all aged above 60 died in the forests following March 11 incident, HRF Khammam district president SK Khadar Babu and state general secretary VS Krishna said. The villagers died of hunger as they could not get water or food while they were hiding. They had since been cremated on the village outskirts, the fact-finding team said.
“These deaths would not have taken place if not for the attack on Morpalli and the government has to bear the responsibility,” the HRF said in the release.
The HRF was of the opinion that the brutalities inflicted upon these three tribals by a combination of security forces and vigilante groups like Koya Commandos and SPOs was part of a conscious counter-insurgency strategy of the government in its fight against the Maoists.
HRF demanded that the Chhattisgarh government must take immediate steps to provide adequate relief to all the three villages.
–Agencies