Between March 11 and March 16, 2011, the Chhattisgarh police, special police officers (SPOs) and CRPF carried out a round of combing operations in the villages of Morpalli, Timapuram and Tadmetla. They burnt some 300 homes, killed three men and raped three women. Three old people died of starvation.
(In July 2011, the Supreme Court ruled that the SPOs be disarmed with immediate effect. While the Chhattisgarh police claimed that SPOs form a vital part of their anti-Maoist strategy, an ever-increasing body of complaints, petitions and news reports holds the tribal force responsible for a series of violent crimes). http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/an-uncertain-future-for-spos-in-chhattisgarh/article2208070.ece
When this was reported, the district collector tried to deliver relief but was stopped by SPOs. Swami Agnivesh and Art of Living representatives were also attacked. SRP Kalluri, the inspector general of police, Bastar range, was suspected to be behind that attack.
Once this became public, questions were raised in the assembly (28 March). The Communist Party of India (CPI) held a rally in Jagdalpur at which one of the rape survivors spoke. The villagers have named the SPOs who were involved. The Salwa Judum leaders involved in attacking Swami Agnivesh were also identified. Both the district collector and Kalluri were transferred. Chief minister Raman Singh even visited Tadmetla.
The police were forced to file FIRs in which, however, they made no mention of the rapes and killings and said that the Maoists has burnt the houses.
The Supreme Court ordered a CBI enquiry in July 2011. In the meantime, in order to pre-empt the apex court, the state government ordered an enquiry by Justice TP Sharma (who had tried Binayak Sen). What this meant was that two parallel enquiries were being conducted and the poor villagers were summoned by both.
In February 2012, the SPOs attacked the CBI team members after which they started calling the villagers to Jagdalpur, 187 km away. The villagers had to travel standing on pick-up trucks, women and children, giving up their wages for a week. They have really done their best to give testimony, several times over the last five years.
In July 2015, since the CBI was doing nothing, we again filed an application asking for a speedy enquiry. The bench hearing the case was new. Despite our repeated asking the CBI to file fresh FIRs, they preferred to take over the police FIRs. In one of the status reports they filed, they said: “We investigated on the basis of the FIRs, and also found rapes and murders”. In December 2015, Justice Lokur and Justice Lalit of the apex court asked them to clarify whether the rapes and murders were part of the same incident, or a different incident in which case they could be investigated by the CG police!
The CBI was supposed to file an affidavit last December, but instead they submitted a report in a sealed cover. We asked for it again in August 2016. Now they have given a report which says the barest common thread that links the incidents is that they happened on the same day when the police were in the village, but the villagers are all illiterate.
It appears from the CBI affidavit (attached) that they will say rapes and murders happened, but can’t say by whom. For some time now, with the dropping of charges against Amit Shah and others in Gujarat’s false encounter cases, it is clear that the CBI is fully compromised.
The CBI is now supposed to submit its final report by October (two months from the date of order, 2 August 2016).
It is extremely important that the public is made aware of the composite set of events. The CBI must not get away with this kind of rubbish. The villagers have invested too much in this for us to let them be betrayed like this. Justice cannot depend on the whims of the investigating agency.
What is most important is that there has to be some principle of command responsibility. One cannot expect victims of gang rape by the security forces to say who did it. But there has to be some prosecution.
CBI Affidavit 26.8.2016