NHRC slams police, officials for ‘turning blind eye to Salwa Judum killings’

In the complaint, it was alleged that Salwa Judum personnel carried out mass burning of homes in Kondasawali, Kamaraguda and Karrepara villages and killed seven villagers.

Written by Dipankar Ghose

Raipur | November 6, 2017 03:26 AM IST

3 min read

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War zone: A security man keeps watch from behind barbed wire fencing outside a police station near the Bijapur Salwa Judum camp. The entire region lives on the edge with Naxal violence steadily growing in intensity and all of the government's moves invariably coming to a nought.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has slammed Chhattisgarh police and Sukma district officials for “turning a blind eye” to the alleged murder of seven people and the burning of homes by special police officers of Salwa Judum in 2007. In a sternly-worded notice seeking a reply from the state government in eight weeks, the commission has also said these acts suggested that the state or district administration abetted these crimes. On April 5 this year, the NHRC directed the complainant in the case, Sudha Bhardwaj of the PUCL, to collect more information about the case, a report of which has now been sent to the commission.

In the complaint, it was alleged that Salwa Judum personnel carried out mass burning of homes in Kondasawali, Kamaraguda and Karrepara villages and killed seven villagers. In later years, the Supreme Court banned Salwa Judum amid allegations of state sponsored violence.

Commenting on the failure of the state to register an FIR for seven years, the NHRC said, “The network of district functionaries in a district is fairly large and widespread, this is specially true of the network of the police and the revenue department officials. Therefore, it is unimaginable and unacceptable that ghastly incidents of the nature which (had) taken place in above named three villages and about which report was lodged ultimately only in 2013 and which form basis of case FIR No.10/2013 P.S. Jagarguda did not come to the notice of any of the village/block/police post/police station level functionaries of District Sukma. Thus, the Commission concludes that these incidents had come to the notice of police, revenue and other officials of District Sukma soon after they had taken place but police and district officials had deliberately turned a blind eye to these killings and incidents of arson.”

The NHRC also said the failure to take cognizance for seven years is a strong circumstance to show that these crimes “had been abetted by the district officials of Sukma/or state government officials of the State of Chhattisgarh”. The commission said that before it took a final view, it wanted to give the state of Chhattisgarh the chance to explain the anomalies, and asked for a reply from the Chief Secretary.

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