“Those who did not die in the firing were killed by the police with axes”
An all-India, fact-finding team of rights activists has
brought out graphic details of what it described as the “plain
slaughter” of tribals of Sarkeguda and Kottaguda in Bijapur district of
Chhattisgarh as the Central Reserve Police Force gave no quarter even to
those who survived its firing on the night of June 28.
A
report quoted villagers as telling the 16-member team, which visited
Sarketuda, Kottaguda and Rajpenta on July 6 and 7, that “those who did
not die from the bullet wounds were killed by the police with axes they
picked up from the village itself.” Eyewitnesses, including
mediapersons, who saw the bodies, said the victims were brutalised with
deep hacking cuts in the chest and forehead, the report said.
“I
have never seen such butchery in my 25 years’ work in human rights,”
said V. S. Krishna, general secretary of the Human Rights Forum,
referring to the death of 17 Adivasis in the firing by CRPF personnel
and CoBRA. About 60 Adivasis had assembled around 8 p.m. on June 28 in
an open area between Sarkeguda and Kottaguda. As the sowing season was
about to begin, they were to discuss biju pondum, the traditional
seed sowing festival, distribution of land for tilling, lending help to
families without cattle, deciding rent for a new tractor and arrears of
Rs. 10,000 due to them for tendu leaf collection.
It
was a cloudy night and visibility was poor. A contingent of the CRPF
and the CoBRA commandos, numbering over a hundred, cordoned off the
area. At about 10 p.m, there was a burst of gunfire which hit three
Adivasis, killing them instantly. Firing followed from three other
directions, sending the terrified villagers running and screaming. It
continued for about 30 minutes after which the CRPF men fired two flares
to light up the area and survey the scene.
Sixteen,
including six minors, died that night and one the next day. The 17
victim was Irpa Ramesh. After the firing began, he ran and made it to
the safety of his house and stepped out at dawn to survey the area. He
was fired upon immediately and, though hit, he managed to get back
inside his house. The CRPF men followed him and clobbered him to death
with a brick in front of his wife and three children, and also took away
Rs. 5,000 from their house, the report said.
The
CDRO sought to debunk the CRPF’s attempts to portray the carnage as the
result of an exchange of fire with dreaded Maoists and Union Home
Minister P. Chidambaram’s repetition of this claim. Observing that the
plea of ‘self-defence’ was a favourite invocation by police to explain
away extra-judicial killings, the team said there was no exchange of
fire; it was one-sided, unannounced and unprovoked. It was plausible
that the injuries to six CRPF and CoBRA personnel were caused by firing
by their colleagues from other sides.
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