With more than one year of security operations in Chhattisgarh under Operation Kagaar, PUDR condemns the central and state governments’ policy of securitization at the expense of people’s rights and in violation of domestic and international law governing the State’s use of force in situations of internal armed conflict. With the latest encounter on February 09, there have been over 300 killings since January 2024, with the death of more than 30 security personnel. The total tally of arrests and surrenders has reached 1033 and 925, respectively. News reports further indicate that the Maoists have also killed at least nine civilians in 2025. There is inconsistency in the total number of killings in this time period under operation Kagaar between various official and independent sources.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) began Operation Kagaar in Abujhmad in January 2024 as the ‘final mission’ to eradicate ‘Left-Wing Extremism’ (LWE) by March 2026, by bringing in around 6,000 additional security forces. Kagaar extends the long line of continuous security and counter-insurgency measures in Chhattisgarh from the early years of its creation, starting with Salwa Judum in 2005, Operation Green Hunt in 2009, National Policy and Action Plan in 2015, and Operation SAMADHAAN-Prahaar in 2017. While acknowledging that the roots of the conflict lie in the continued denial of rights, autonomy and self-governance to Adivasis over their lands, forests and resources, successive governments have failed to address these concerns. Instead, they have resorted to increased militarization, which has historically resulted in human rights violations, extra-judicial killings, criminalization of individuals and organizations, wrongful incarceration and mass internal displacement.
As part of Kagaar, the region has seen the setting up of a large number of security camps. Though the government has claimed in the past that the camps are for ensuring road construction and other development work. However, some official documents represent the objective as “providing seamless connectivity, area security and area domination along with smooth movement of security forces in the LWE affected areas.” After the February 09 encounter, Chhattisgarh’s former ADGP (Naxal Operations) admitted that making forward camps has helped in “filling up the security vacuum in places like Abujhmad (an unsurveyed area…) and south Bastar…These camps are not only restricting the movement of Maoists, but are also helping forces to conduct major operations.”
The Home Minister has reported that 277 CRPF camps have been set up in ‘LWE’ areas since 2019, with the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) bringing attention to 199 new BSF camps over the same time period. Separately, an independent fact-finding mentions 250 security camps having come up in Bastar alone since 2019, with the IGP Bastar division declaring another 50 in February 2024. As per these estimates, at present, there is one security personnel in Bastar for every nine civilians. The central government has further fortified funding for these operations under the Special Infrastructure Scheme (SIS) and Special Central Assistance (SCA) to the Chhattisgarh government up to March 2026, with the total bandwidth of SIS extending to INR 1160 crores. At least since 2021, Adivasis in Chhattisgarh have been protesting the establishment of security camps on their Fifth Schedule lands, including inside schools, without the free, prior and informed consent of gram sabhas. The Chhattisgarh police responded to protests against camps with firings, such as in Silger, which led to the death of four persons and arrest of eight persons.
This scale of deployment frames the context for wide-spread incidents of killings in the region. An inexhaustive list of these incidents include encounters in Kanker-Narayanpur in April, Pidiya in May, Dantewada-Narayanpur border in October, Sukma in November, in January 2025 on Chhattisgarh-Odisha border, and recently, on February 09 at the Indravati National Park in Bijapur, among numerous others. The operations of 11-12 December 2024 in Kummam and Lekawada in Narayanpur district brought forth the alarming news that security forces killed seven persons and severely injured even four children in the firings. While the police claimed the firing was targeted at Maoist cadres, locals claim that five of those killed were civilians. Further, the IGP Bastar division justified the shooting on children on the grounds that they were “likely being used as porters or human shields” by ‘Naxals’. It is worrying that the State forces opened fire on children and civilians on the basis of speculation.
There is no publicly available official information on any of these encounters in 2024-25, the police have registered FIRs or conducted investigations in keeping with Supreme Court guidelines in PUCL v. State of Maharashtra (2014) to ensure independent and fair probe. Nor have commissions of inquiry been set up to scrutinize the claims of the security forces. Instead, the Chhattisgarh government has criminalized individuals and organizations raising questions on the indiscriminate killings of civilians and setting up of security camps. This includes, for instance, the arrest of Suneeta Pottam in June 2024, who continues to be incarcerated under various FIRs, and the ban imposed on the Moolvasi Bachao Manch (MBM) in October 2024 under the Chhattisgarh Special Public Safety Act (CSPSA). This is in addition to the criminalization of political and ordinary life in Chhattisgarh under laws like Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) on allegations of association with banned organizations.
Given that a senior police officer has already gone on record to defend State actions in such incidents, it makes clear that the current state of affairs are part of the central and state government’s ongoing modus operandi for the eradication of ‘LWE’. In such a context, it is questionable whether the PUCL guidelines will be able to guarantee independent investigations even if carried out by a police station not directly involved in the specific killings. As such, judicially-monitored investigations are the dire need of the hour to ascertain whether the police and security forces abided by the norms relating to internal armed conflict under international humanitarian law. These include the principle of distinction between armed combatants and civilians, as well principles of proportionality and precaution.
Government reports post-Independence, such as the Xaxa Committee Report (2014), acknowledge the non-implementation of constitutional Fifth Schedule guarantees for Adivasis, violent and extractive modes of development in their customary lands, and the scale of mass displacement. Successive governments, however, have side-stepped these concerns and resorted to increased securitization in east-central India. The present intensification of armed conflict in the region, while ostensibly intended for the elimination of ‘LWE’, must be read in context of the 2047 Viksit Bharat plans chasing a $32+ Trillion economy for which the State seeks to make available mineral resources for private extraction. In this pursuit, the State is rapidly eroding the already fragile guarantees on the right to autonomy and free, prior and informed consent of gram sabhas in cases of land acquisition and forest diversion for development projects and security camps.
PUDR insists that the resolution to this conflict lies in the political process, whereby the central and state governments uphold their constitutional obligations under the Fifth Schedule, Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act 1996 (PESA), and Forest Rights Act 2006 (FRA) to protect Adivasi autonomy over land and resources. We demand complete demilitarization of Fifth Schedule and Adivasi areas, with independent judicially-monitored investigations into all instances of killings in Chhattisgarh under present and past security operations. Accountability of State actors for violation of international humanitarian law, particularly on principles of distinction, proportionality, and precaution must be ensured. PUDR further asks for the release of all political prisoners and a review of all arrests and surrenders on allegations of association with banned organizations. Lastly, PUDR demands the withdrawal of all organizational bans under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, CSPSA, and such draconian laws.
Harish Dhawan and Paramjeet Singh
(Secretaries, PUDR)
