PUDR strongly condemns IG Bastar, SRP Kalluri’s threat of taking severe action against certain NGOs in Chhattisgarh for allegedly aiding and abetting the Maoists under the guise of helping Adivasis.  At a recent Press Conference he said that many such organisations were already under surveillance.

 Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisation (CDRO)  strongly condemns the brutal and horrifying murder of Ganti Prasadam, the former leader of the Maoist Party and present honorary President of Amarula Bandumitrula Committee, by the state sponsored criminal gang. He was attacked with knifes and fired at him at point blank   at 3.30 pm on Thursday (4rth July) in Nellore Town, Andhra Pradesh. The attack was carried on when Prasadam was about to enter the Nellore Hospital premises to visit an ailing relative.

PUDR deplores the bestial deeds of the two warring sides in Latehar district of Jharkhand, during the early hours of Tuesday, 8th January 2013.Mutilating the body of a dead is unacceptable under any circumstance. To do so in war on the body of a dead combatant is virtually considered taboo under laws that govern war/s. That the bodies were used to plant explosives which would have killed medical staff and those recovering bodies makes it doubly heinous. The use of civilians as human shields by the forces of the government is equally deplorable.

Following an outcry against the alleged killing of five tribals/Maoists in an ‘encounter’, near Bhaliaguda village of Gajapati district of Odisha, a six-member team of individuals representing CDRO and Women against Sexual Violence and State Violence (WSS) visited Odisha from 8 December to 9 December 2012. Our purpose was to understand what had actually unfolded and who the people died were.

झारखण्ड के गांवों में सैन्य अभियान और सरकारी सशत्र बलों द्वारा गांव वलून को प्रताड़ित किये जाने की जो ख़बरें बड़े महानगरों तक छन छन तक आती रही हैं उनकी तह में जाने की जरूरत लम्बे समय से महसूस हो रही थी। यह ख़बरें मानवाधिकार संस्थाओं की रिपोर्टों में ही नहीं, स्थानीय अख़बारों में भी छपती तही हैं। इन्ही सवालों का जवाब ढुंढने के लिए कोआर्डिनेशन ऑफ़ डेमोक्रेटिक राइट्स (सी ड़ी आर ओ ) ने इन इलाकों का दौरा किया। यह जांच दो चरणों में हुई। 

This report covers incidents of Massacre by Security Forces and Salwa Judum under Operation Green Hunt, in Bijapur and Dantewada districts of Chhattisgarh, based on three fact-finding reports conducted by CDRO between October 2009 and July 2012. The first report, Killing of Adivasis by CRPF in Bijapur District, focuses on the massacre committed on June 28, 2012; Chintalnar Massacre exposes the brutal side of ‘area domination’; and Murders by Security Forces brings to light the horrendous mass murders that were committed on two days in 2009.

In the past few months, parts of north-western India have witnessed incidents of outright Dalit assertion of their rights related to access to resources and to a life of dignity. This has, in all cases, met with retaliation by the dominant upper or intermediary castes. After the Hisar incident, where hundreds of Dalits from Bhagana village had to come all the way up to Delhi on foot to voice  the suppression of their rights to land and an equal life, similar acts of oppression have been witnessed in Ramgarh village of Dadri Tehsil, GautamBuddh Nagar district, Uttar Pradesh. 

 An all-India fact-finding team of rights activists belonging to the Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisations (CDRO) visited the area in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh where 17 adivasis died as a result of firing by CRPF forces on the night of June 28, 2012. The team visited the villages of Sarkeguda, Kottaguda and Rajpenta and elicited information about the events. The following is a brief report of the team. A more detailed report will follow in due course.

PUDR condemns the cold- blooded and cowardly murder by security forces of 19 villagers of Sarkelguda in Chhattisgarh including five children in age group of 12-15 killed with bullets, axes and knife wounds, as well as sexual assault of four teenaged girls The incident once again exposes how dispensable and inconsequential is the life of the adivasi people of Chhattisgarh for the Indian state. The sheer brutality and complete impunity with which the forces have acted, is matched by the doublespeak of the political class.

Jharkhand is fast becoming a military state. Similar to operation green hunt which was started three years ago in mineral rich forest areas resided by adivasis, brutal operations are being carried out continuously in Jharkhand as well. ‘Operation Anaconda’ was launched as a special operation in August 2011 in Saranda forest area of West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. Reasons for speeding up of such military operations by the state can be viewed in a twofold context. One the one hand mining activity in Saranda has been on the rise.