A unique and intimidatory JCB brand machinery weaponised as a tool in hate campaign against minorities in India with the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh (UP) Yogi Adityanath aka Ajay Bisht even proudly claiming the epithet “Bulldozer Baba” in the run up to his successful second win to power in the state in 2022. Madhya Pradesh (MP), another BJP-ruled state, Gujarat too, and more recently even Maharashtra have seen such demolitions targeted on minority areas. This widespread unlawful demolitions of Muslims’ homes, businesses and places of worship through the use of JCB bulldozers and other machines must stop immediately, Amnesty International said in two companion reports released yesterday.

Both reports — ‘If you speak up, your house will be demolished’: Bulldozer Injustice in India’ and ‘Unearthing Accountability: JCB’s Role and Responsibility in Bulldozer Injustice in India’ — document in detail the punitive demolition of Muslim properties in at least five states with a widespread use of JCB-branded bulldozers or diggers as brand of choice in a hate campaign against the minority community. These demolitions are carried out with widespread impunity as was evident from the Mira Road demolitions after a Ram Temple Rally turned violent earlier last month in Mumbai, India.

Hence, the international human rights body, Amnesty International has called on the Government of India and state governments to immediately halt the de facto policy of demolishing people’s homes as a form of extra-judicial punishment and ensure nobody is made homeless as a result of forced evictions. They must also offer adequate compensation to all those affected by the demolitions and ensure those responsible for these violations are held to account.

“The unlawful demolition of Muslim properties by the Indian authorities, peddled as ‘bulldozer justice’ by political leaders and media, is cruel and appalling. Such displacement and dispossession is deeply unjust, unlawful and discriminatory. They are destroying families— and must stop immediately,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.

“The authorities have repeatedly undermined the rule of law, destroying homes, businesses or places of worship, through targeted campaigns of hate, harassment, violence and the weaponization of JCB bulldozers. These human rights abuses must be urgently addressed.”

JCB Bulldozers – ‘Brand of choice’

Amnesty International’s Crisis Evidence Lab and Digital Verification Corps have verified that JCB’s machines, while not the only vehicles used, were the most widely deployed equipment in these demolitions. Their repeated use has given rise to the use of monikers for the company like ‘Jihadi Control Board’ by celebratory right-wing media and politicians.

In response to a letter from Amnesty International, a JCB spokesperson said that once products have been sold to customers, the company has no control over or responsibility for their products’ use or abuse.

Quoting from the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, JCB has a responsibility to respect human rights including by conducting due diligence to identify, prevent and mitigate adverse human rights impacts that are directly linked to its operations, products or services across its value chain. This requirement is especially important when a company’s products are used in regions where there is a heightened risk or evidence of their link to human rights abuses publicly available, such as in Assam, Delhi, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

“Under international standards, JCB is responsible for what third-party buyers do with its equipment. The company must stop looking away as JCB machines are used to target and punish the Muslim community, while people sloganeer anti-Muslim vitriol mounted from atop these bulldozers. JCB cannot continue to evade responsibility while its machines are repeatedly used to inflict human rights abuses,” said Agnès Callamard.

“The company must publicly condemn the use of its machinery to commit human rights violations, including punitive demolitions of Muslim properties in India, use its leverage to mitigate adverse impact and create robust human rights due diligence policies for the use of its equipment across the globe.”

Is this a ‘Punishment’ for religious minorities, asks Amnesty

Between April and June 2022, Amnesty International researchers found that authorities in five states – Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled states of Assam, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) governed state of Delhi – carried out demolitions as a ‘punishment’ following episodes of communal violence or protests against discrimination by those in authority against Muslims.

Amnesty International investigated 63 of 128 documented demolitions in detail by interviewing more than a hundred survivors, legal experts, journalists and community leaders. At least 33 instances of the repeated use of JCB’s equipment were verified. The investigation also established that at least 617 people, including men, women, children and older persons, were rendered homeless or deprived of their livelihoods. These individuals were subjected to forced evictions, intimidation and unlawful force by the police and collective and arbitrary punishment, which undermined their rights to non-discrimination, adequate housing, and a fair trial.

An abject failure to follow due process

“The (bulldozers) directly attacked our house. We weren’t given any notice. Nothing,” said Hasina Bi, a 56-year-old widow who was at her home in Khargone, Madhya Pradesh when it was targeted and demolished in April 2022 by the municipal authorities.

In all five states under examination, Amnesty International found that the demolitions — often carried out under the guise of remedying illegal construction and encroachment — were enacted without following any of the due process safeguards outlined in domestic law or international human rights law. State authorities enforced the demolitions and evictions without offering any prior consultation, adequate notice, or alternative resettlement opportunities. The destruction of buildings sometimes took place at night, with occupants given little or no time to leave their homes and shops, salvage their belongings, or appeal the demolition orders and seek legal redress.

Such demolitions constitute forced evictions, which are prohibited under international human rights law and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) to which India is a state party.

‘They beat up my husband’

A 60-year-old woman whose house was demolished in Sendhwa, Madhya Pradesh, said: “When we asked what our fault was, they beat up my husband with lathis (batons). I was yelling that my disabled son is inside, but they did not stop… I could have lost them both.”

Amnesty International documented at least 39 cases of the police resorting to unlawful force while carrying out demolitions or preventing victims from collecting their belongings. At least 14 residents said they were beaten by the police for presenting their official documents and asking why their homes were being demolished. The police hurled abuses at residents, kicked open doors, and dragged people out of their homes before beating them with lathis [batons]. Both men and women were restrained and held in police vehicles.

The use of force by the police was neither necessary nor proportionate. This unlawful use of force constitutes a human rights violation and has also resulted in a range of other violations including the residents’ right to adequate housing as well as their rights to bodily integrity, freedom from cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, and effective remedy, which are enshrined in both the Indian constitution and international human rights law.

“The unlawful demolition of Muslim properties by the Indian authorities, peddled as ‘bulldozer justice’ by political leaders and media, is cruel and appalling. Such displacement and dispossession is deeply unjust, unlawful and discriminatory. They are destroying families— and must stop immediately,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.

“The authorities have repeatedly undermined the rule of law, destroying homes, businesses or places of worship, through targeted campaigns of hate, harassment, violence and the weaponization of JCB bulldozers. These human rights abuses must be urgently addressed.”

Discrimination and complicity of politicians and media

“If they (say it is) justice, it should be done equally, whether the property belongs to a Hindu or Muslim,” said Zahid Ali Sayyed, who owned a now-demolished tent-house in Khargone, Madhya Pradesh.

Amnesty International found that Muslim-concentrated localities were chosen for demolitions, while Muslim-owned properties were selectively targeted in diverse areas. Nearby Hindu-owned properties, particularly in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, were left untouched.

The demolitions were often instigated at the highest levels of government, with many state officials directly or indirectly calling for the use of bulldozers against Muslims. Punitive demolitions have been aggressively pursued as a form of extrajudicial punishment over many years and in several states, including Uttar Pradesh whose chief minister, Yogi Adityanath, has been labelled by the media as “Bulldozer Baba” (grandfather).

The Indian media has also referred to the demolitions as “bulldozer justice”; describing the punitive destruction of homes and businesses as “(good) models of governance” by state authorities, while failing to consider whether the demolitions were carried out in accordance with the law or constitute unlawful discrimination against the Muslim community.

If they (say it is) justice, it should be done equally, whether the property belongs to a Hindu or Muslim.

Zahid Ali Sayyed, who owned a now-demolished tent-house in Madhya Pradesh, India

Satellite images of Khargone, Madhya Pradesh from May 2021 and April 2022 show discriminatory demolition of Zahid Ali Sayyed’s property.

“In a year that India heads to the polls, the ongoing hate campaign against minorities – especially Muslims – and the widespread impunity enjoyed by those responsible for the demolition of their homes and properties is unacceptable. Amnesty International calls on the Indian authorities to ensure immediate protection of the rights of Muslims and those who are most marginalized before, during and after elections,” said Agnès Callamard.

Background

A year-and-a-half since the demolitions, in spite of the financial hardships created by the loss of their homes and businesses, victims continue to wait for justice with legal cases pending in courts.

The Indian government has also failed to provide access to justice and effective remedies for victims as accountability for human rights violations committed by the police, municipal corporations, development authorities and revenue departments in the five states remains elusive.

Instead, the state governments and federal government have continued to demolish other Muslim properties, as evidenced by the destruction of homes and shops in Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Gujarat, and Uttarakhand in 2023.

Related:

Maharashtra: Bulldozer Raj, tensions rise in Kolhapur’s Laxtirth Vasahat Colony after administration demolishes Madrasa under pressure from Hindutva organisations

Rajasthan: State Education Minister warns of bulldozer action against teachers

“Bulldozer raj” in Chhattisgarh too?

134 houses razed, two mosques next: “Bulldozer Justice” continues

Violence in Junagadh over demolition notice to dargah; 1 dead, several injured

The post Demolitions as retributive state policy used against minorities in India: Amnesty appeared first on SabrangIndia.

In a report titled Designed to Exclude: How India’s courts are allowing foreigners tribunals to render people stateless in Assam, Amnesty finds that “Foreigners Tribunals are vested with extraordinary powers. They do not observe appropriate procedural safeguards that flow from Article 21 of the Constitution of India. On the contrary, each Foreigners Tribunal is allowed to devise and follow its own procedure that may not hold the scrutiny of domestic and international human rights law.”

At present there are 100 FTs in Assam and 200 more are in the pipeline. According to the report FT members might be not only inadequately trained but also under pressure to declare a large number of people as ‘foreigners’. The report says, “The members of the Foreigners Tribunal are recruited on a contractual basis and trained for only four days. The modalities of the training are unknown. The extension of their tenure is dependent on their ‘performance’. In practice, Amnesty International India has found that the Assam government evaluates their performance based on how many people the members declare to be foreigners and accordingly extends their tenure. Members who declare foreigners at a rate of less than 10% stand the risk of being axed.”

Amnesty presents case studies to highlight the arbitrary manner in which the FTs operate and pass orders. The report says, “The reasons given for declaring someone a foreigner are vague and steeped in discrimination. Samina Bibi,6 who Amnesty International India interviewed for this briefing was declared a foreigner by the Foreigners Tribunal. One of the reasons given by the quasi-judicial body was that she could not remember the constituency where her grandfather cast his vote. Abu Bakkar Siddiqui, on the other hand was declared a foreigner because his grandfather’s name was spelled Aper Ali in one document and Afer Ali in another.”

The report goes on to showcase how successive judgments by higher courts have enabled FTs to perpetuate grief and misery. The report says, “The judgments and decisions of the Supreme Court and High Court have severely weakened the separation of powers, consolidating judicial functions with the executive. In many cases, the courts have assumed the domain of the executive and passed orders. As a result, India stands at the brink of a statelessness crisis.” The report then goes on to list examples of such judgments as well as a series of case studies of affected people.

When it comes recommendations, Amnesty wants the government of India to:

– Immediately sign and ratify the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness;

– Recognize the impact of the judgment in Sarbananda Sonowal v. Union of India and acknowledge the scale of the problem of statelessness it is likely to create in Assam, as a first step towards the identification and implementation of comprehensive and effective measures for its eradication;

– Restore citizenship to people where it can be shown that the deprivation of citizenship was done through arbitrary-decision making and constituted a human rights violation;

– In consultation with the human rights organisations, review the existing regime of determining nationality of Indian citizens and make amendments in line with the international and national fair trial standards and other human rights guarantees;

– Reverse the burden of proof on the state, particularly in cases where the person suspected of being a foreigner does not hold any other nationality and stands the risk of becoming stateless;

– Establish an appellate body in processes used to deprive people of their citizenship;

– Take steps to ensure that a person is not deprived of their citizenship due to lack of documentation;

– Provide full reparation to all persons arbitrarily deprived of their citizenship by the Foreigners Tribunals;

– Provide free, efficient and quality legal aid to persons accused of doubtful nationality at the time of both interrogation by the Border Police and proceedings before the Foreigner Tribunal;

– Take active efforts to regularize migration by promoting access to safe and orderly channels.
 

Amnesty also has a list of recommendations for the government of Assam:

– Review the opinions of the Foreigners Tribunals in their cases to determine whether fair trial standards enshrined in national and international law were followed in determining their nationality and take immediate and concrete steps to restore the nationality of the persons who were arbitrarily deprived of their nationality;

– Carry out a comprehensive census or mapping exercise to identify all those who are stateless and at risk of statelessness, compiling disaggregated data by gender, age, status and location, in cooperation with National Human Rights Commission and other human rights organisation.

Finally, pending repeal of the existing regime, Amnesty wants FTs to:

– Review the recruitment process of Foreigners Tribunal members and ensure they are protected from undue influence of the executive bodies such as Home & Political Department of Assam.

The process must include a written examination and intensive training by the National Judicial Academy;

– Fix the tenure of the members of the Foreigners Tribunals;

– Conduct public hearings in line with human rights standards;

– Publicly make available the orders of Foreigners Tribunal under Section 4 of the Right to Information Act, 2005.

The entire report may be read here:

Related:
A look at how Foreigners’ Tribunals have fared since 2015
EXCLUSIVE! Assam FT declares 282 people foreigner: Signed orders MISSING or full of errors

More than 200 new FT members appointed in Assam

Proceedings before Foreigners’ Tribunals are really the issue: Teesta Setalvad
CJP works towards release of detainees in Assam
Assam NRC: Deprivation of citizenship should be through rigorous procedure, says People’s Tribunal 

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Why does every bout of brute, targeted violence inevitably become a battleground for sexual violence against the community’s women?

We saw this gruesome pattern during the bloodshed that surrounded India’s partition. Sikh, Muslim and Hindu women in equal measure were held to account, in revenge and wrath for what was perceived as the fault of the community they belonged to.

The same pattern has held true in various parts of India and South Asia thereafter – in the brute post partition anti-minority bouts of violence in India, including the violence suffered by Kashmiri Pandits in the Kashmir valley.

Unmatched in gruesome scale and scope were the Gujarat 2002 massacres, where by the state’s own admission, as many as 193 women and girls, of the Muslim minority, were targeted and attacked. (Independent assessments put the figure closer to 250).
Several lessons have been learned from the struggle for justice in Gujarat that has, to date, in an unprecedented “success rate” convicted over 172 powerful perpetrators. In three of the criminal trials, the narrative of gendered violence found space during the court proceedings.

The need for thorough recording of the first information report, independent investigations, time bound trials and a robust witness protection programme are the prerequisites of any struggle for justice as the robust Gujarat experience shows. Over 570 witness survivors, lawyers and human rights defenders, to date have such protection by the para-military, guaranteed by the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court’s continuous monitoring the progress of the trials also ensured some degree of redressal as time wore on and the investigating agencies slipped into cruel lethargy.
 

Losing hope in western Uttar Pradesh

It is, this month, a decade and a half after the state-wide carnage in the western Indian state.

Three years and five months ago, four districts of western Uttar Pradesh that have just celebrated democracy’s ultimate festival, the Assembly elections in the state, saw just such an upsurge. Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, Shamli and Meerut erupted nine months prior to India’s general elections in May 2014 with targeted violence.

Not only were more than 60 lives lost and several thousands of the minority community internally displaced (this author was witness to deaths by the cold, of women and children, in the open-field relief camps all over the districts) but women, as usual bore the brunt.

Seven courageous women complained and documented their tale. Despite the Supreme Court of India being seized of the matter, not once but twice, and even passing salutary directions on several pleas, the abject failure of state mechanisms to deliver real and substantive justice raises questions of institutional accountability towards the dignity, justice and the well being of its citizenry, especially if the victim survivor hails from the voiceless – uninfluential – section of our people.

Amnesty International’s detailed report of its investigation of this targeted communal violence, Losing Faith – The Muzaffarnagar gang-rape survivors’ struggle for justice, is a testimony to the courage of the survivors and an exposure of the hollow claims of the protection of constitutional rights by the Indian state. Celebrate as we do election time and the festival of the ballot, little do issues of human rights and dignities matter when the campaign trail blazes shrill and strong. In the immediate aftermath of the first phase of elections in Uttar Pradesh, exactly where the tragic tales of the rape survivors are located, will this narrative have any impact?

Of the seven rape survivors, one died in child birth last year. A month before she died, she said to Amnesty, “If those responsible are brought to justice, I will be happy in my heart. I will not live in fear anymore “(Esha, a gang-rape survivor, July 2016). Her evidence had not even been recorded before she died. A petition for the transfer of her case outside the district of Muzaffarnagar had been filed in April 2016 and is, shockingly, still pending. Of the other five, two have been forced by bitter court delays and the force of circumstance to turn “hostile”.
 

“Fair trial means a trial in which bias or prejudice for or against the accused, the witnesses, or the cause which is being tried is eliminated. If the witnesses get threatened or are forced to give false evidence that also would not result in a fair trial.”
— – Supreme Court of India, Zaheera Sheikh v State of Gujarat, 2006
 

The detailed narratives of all seven survivors reveal the utter failure of the state to preserve and protect witness testimonies. Not only was police protection denied to them but the deliberate and prolonged delays in the hearings and the constant intimidation and threats by the alleged accused have ensured a pervasive culture of impunity to the perpetrators.

In all seven gang-rape cases, the police took months to file charges, and even after they did so, trials have proceeded extremely slowly, making a farce of the famed 2013 amendment to Section 309 of the Code of Criminal Procedure that dictates “day-to-day hearings until all the witnesses in attendance have been examined, “ and completion of a trial, in rape cases “within two months”.
 

One of the complainants, Fatima, tried unsuccessfully to file an FIR on September 20, 2013 and finally succeeded only on October 9 that year. Another, Ghazala, sent her complaint as early as October 22, 2013, but the police registered an FIR only after the issue was raised before the Supreme Court, on February 18, 2014. Ghazala too has applied for her case to be transferred out of the district. She told a trial court in January 2016,
 

“I am extremely apprehensive of coming to the Muzaffarnagar District court as the accused persons and their family members who all belong to the dominant community wield considerable influence in this area. I fear that harm will be caused to me and my family when I go to give my evidence in the Muzaffarnagar District court.” 
 

The National Commission for Minorities, too, after a visit to the area in June 2014, has documented several complaints “about harassment of rape victims”.

Though the initial directions from the Supreme Court ensured that Rs 5,00,000 in compensation was paid to these survivors, the absence of any livelihood and continued threats and intimidation by perpetrators and even the police have rendered their existence fragile.

The continued need for robust and persistent legal aid, adequate reparation as also the enactment of a law to prevent communal violence (a task this country aborted mid-track in 2014), as also a witness protection programme are the need of the hour. Only through police reform will we reach a stage where there is thorough and independent investigation.

But the ruling dispensation in New Delhi remains blind to the fact that some of its cadres and party men even today remain accused of being the perpetrators of such hate-filled acts of vengeance and of further intimidating those who dare struggle for lasting peace through justice.

Teesta Setalvad is secretary, Citizens for Justice and Peace.

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Freedom of expression is being throttled in Chhattisgarh as the state cracks down on media and civil society, Amnesty International has stated in a report released in New Delhi today

 
For the last six months, the central Indian state has witnessed a sustained attack on journalists and human rights defenders. Conditions have been created where arbitrary arrests, threats to life, and organized hindrance to the work of journalists, lawyers, and other human rights defenders have led to a near total information blackout. The Entire 24 page report can be read here.
 
Local journalists investigating excesses by security forces have been arrested on trumped-up charges and tortured, while their lawyers have been threatened.  Abusive security laws have been deployed. And increasingly, Chhattisgarh is playing to a script of the bizarre.
 
Violations by the state have been accompanied by intimidation by those acting on its behalf. Local self-styled vigilante groups called the Samajik Ekta Manch (Social Unity Forum) and Mahila Ekta Manch (Women’s Unity Form), which appear to have the backing of the state police, have intimidated and harassed journalists and activists who express dissenting views. Among the members of these groups are people who were part of the banned Salwa Judum civil militia.
 
Most of these incidents have taken place in and around the Bastar region of the state, the epicenter of the long-drawn conflict between state forces and armed Maoist groups. Bastar has witnessed violence and counter-violence leading to massive human rights violations. Adivasi communities in particular have faced abuses from all sides. Against this backdrop, the silencing of civil society and the media may both enable and hide more abuses.

Aakar Patel, Executive Director, Amnesty International India, Bela Bhatia, Bastar-based independent researcher and activist,  Kamal Shukla, Editor, Bhumkal Samachar and Isha Khandelwal, lawyer, Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group addressed the press conference.

Extracts from the Amnesty Report:

Former Amnesty International Prisoners of Conscience and Adivasi activists, Soni Sori and her nephew Lingaram Kodopi have been raising issues of human rights abuses committed by both security forces and armed Maoist groups in Chhattisgarh for years. Soni Sori, a former schoolteacher, and Lingaram Kodopi, a journalist were arrested by the state police in October and September 2011, respectively, on allegations of acting as couriers for a corporate mining firm, Essar.

The police alleged they delivered Essar’s ‘protection money’ to armed Maoists groups to ensure the firm’s unhindered operations. A politician with the Aam Aadmi Party since 2014, Soni Sori has been acquitted in five cases filed against her, and Kodopi has been acquitted in one of two cases filed against him. Both of them alleged that they were tortured in police custody. On 29 October 2011, a government hospital examined Soni under a court order, and reported that two stones had been inserted in her vagina and one in her rectum, and that she had annular tears in her spine.

On the night of February 20, 2016, Soni Sori was travelling on a motorcycle with a colleague from Jagdalpur to her home in Geedam, Chhattisgarh, when three unidentified men on a motorcycle stopped them and threw a chemical substance on Soni Sori’s face. The activist said that the substance caused an intense burning sensation, temporarily blinding her. She was taken to a hospital in Jagdalpur, and later shifted to a hospital in New Delhi for treatment.

Soni Sori had been trying for weeks to file a complaint against a high-ranking police official in Bastar in a case involving an alleged extrajudicial execution in Mardum. She told Amnesty International India that her attackers on  February 20, had warned her not to continue her efforts.

Following the attack, Chhattisgarh authorities formed a special investigation team comprising state police officials. Soni Sori’s family alleges that the team has repeatedly called in Lingaram Kodopi and Soni Sori’s brother-in-law, Ajay Markam, for questioning, and pressured them to say that they had a role in planning the attack. Ajay Markam was called in for questioning on three occasions and claimed that he was detained for 30 hours in Jagdalpur police station after he was picked up on March 10, 2016. During this time, he says, he was tortured by the police. “I was beaten up and asked to confess to committing the attack on Soni. They hit me with their shoes everywhere on my body while I was lying on the ground,” Ajay Markam told Amnesty International India.

Soni Sori had been trying for weeks to file a complaint against a high-ranking police official in Bastar in a case involving an alleged extrajudicial execution in Mardum. Soni Sori told Amnesty International India that her attackers on February 20 had warned her not to continue her efforts.

A Timeline of Darkness

July 16, 2015
Journalist SOMARU NAG is arrested for allegedly being a Maoist sympathiser. He is held for alleged banditry, arson and criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code and the Arms Act.
 
September 29, 2015
Journalist SANTOSH YADAV is arrested for allegedly associating with a terrorist organization and supporting and aiding terrorist groups. He is held under the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, India’s principal anti-terror legislation, among other laws.
 
November 1, 2015
Adivasi women from Pedagelur village, Bijapur file an FIR alleging rape and sexual assault by members of security forces between 19 and 24 October. The women are assisted by local activists, including researcher BELA BHATIA and lawyers from the Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group. 

January 15,  2016
Adivasi women from Kunna village, Sukma file an FIR alleging sexual assault by members of security forces on 12 January. The women are assisted by local activists, including activist Soni Sori.
 
January 18, 2016
Adivasi women from Nendra, Bijapur try to file an FIR alleging rape and sexual assault by members of security forces between 11 and 14 January. The police initially refuse, but later register an FIR on 21 January after local activists hold a press conference.
 
February 8, 2016
Members of the Samajik Ekta Manch demonstrate outside the home of journalist MALINI SUBRAMANIAM in Jagdalpur. They accuse her of being a Maoist agent. Later that night, stones are thrown at her house.
 
February 18, 2016
Journalist MALINI SUBRAMANIAM is forced to leave her home in Jagdalpur after her landlord is pressured by the police to evict her.
 
February 18, 2016
Human rights lawyers SHALINI GERA and ISHA KHANDELWAL of the Jagdalpur Legal Aid group (JagLAG) are forced to leave their home in Jagdalpur after their landlord is pressured by the police to evict them.
 
February 20, 2016
BBC Hindi journalist ALOK PUTUL is forced to abandon an assignment in Bastar after receiving threats. A senior police official had communicated to the journalist that he preferred to spend time with ‘nationalist and patriotic’ journalists.
 
February 20, 2016
Activist SONI SORI is attacked and a chemical substance thrown at her face. Her nephew LINGARAM KODOPI later says that the police tried to pressure him to say that the attack was orchestrated by Soni Sori to gain sympathy. AJAY MARKAM, Soni Sori’s brother-in-law, says he was picked up by the police and tortured.
 
March 16, 2016
SAIBAL JANA, the chief physician at a hospital in Dalli-Rajhara, which he helped set up to treat underprivileged communities, is arrested for allegedly being ‘absconding’ in a criminal case registered in 1992. He is later released on bail.
 
March 21, 2016
Journalist PRABHAT SINGH is picked up by the police, tortured and then arrested under the Information Technology Act for a Whatsapp message making fun of a senior police official.
 
March 26, 2016
Journalist DEEPAK JAISWAL is arrested on a seven-month old complaint filed by a school principal for trespassing, obstructing public servants, and assaulting a public servant.
 
March 26, 2016
Members of the Mahila Ekta Manch demonstrate outside the home of researcher BELA BHATIA. They accuse her of being a Maoist agent, and demand that she leave the state.
 
March 30, 2016
A three-member fact finding committee of the Editors Guild of India concludes that there is a sense of fear among journalists in Bastar and the democratic space for journalism is shrinking.
 

Abuses By Security Forces 

Since 2015, there have been reports of three instances of large-scale sexual violence, physical abuse and looting of villages by security force personnel during search operations in the South Bastar region of Chhattisgarh.

 
On  November 1, 2015, three Adivasi women and a teenage girl registered a First Information Report alleging large-scale rape, assault and looting by security force personnel during search operations between 19 and 24 October 2015 in the villages of Pegdapalli, Pedagelur, Gundem, Burgicheru and Chinnagelur in Bijapur district. The women were aided by activists from the group Women Against Sexual Violence and State Repression, which included researcher Bela Bhatia.
 
The group quoted one of the survivors as saying: “They began chasing my hens, so I objected. ‘Why are you catching my hens? Do your own work,’ I said. At this, they hit me with a stick, blindfolded me and dragged me to the jungle where they raped me. I heard them say in Gondi they would kill me there itself.” It said that many of the women reported being chased out of their homes by security force personnel and beaten. Over a dozen women later filed statements about the violence. No arrests have been made or charges filed yet.
 
On April 5, 2016, a team from the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes which looked into the allegations said that there was prima facie evidence of mass sexual violence, and the case was not being effectively investigated. The team asked for an impartial investigation, stating that an investigation carried out by the district police would not be fair as they had been involved in the search operations.
 
On January 15, 2016, six Adivasi women registered an FIR against security force personnel for sexual assault during search operations on 12 January in Kunna village and Pedapara in Sukma district. The women – accompanied by activist Soni Sori – reported the violence to a senior official in the district administration on 15 January, but an FIR was only registered later. The women said that security force personnel had stripped and beaten them. One woman said that she was dragged out of her house, and her husband and children taken to a security force camp. When she said that she had a small child, a policeman forcibly squeezed her breast. No arrests have been made or charges filed yet.
 
On January 18, 2016, 16 Adivasi women from Nendra village, including eight rape survivors, traveled to the Bijapur district headquarters to file an FIR against security personnel who allegedly raped more than a dozen women in Nendra during search operations between 11 and 14 January. The police recorded their statements, but refused to register an FIR in the absence of the Superintendent of Police. Isha Khandelwal, the women’s lawyer, said, “The women who were raped were not able to even walk properly. Despite that, they went to file an FIR in the district station, where the police officials refused to file an FIR unless the SP was present.”
 
Shivani Taneja, a member of the group Women Against Sexual Violence and State Repression  who accompanied the victims, said, “While taking the statements of the affected women, a woman police official remarked in Gondi, “You are all feeding the naxalites and taking care of them. And now you’re coming here.” There is a bias against them continually because they come from Naxal affected areas.”
 
An FIR was finally lodged on January 21, 2016, after immense pressure from activists and civil society groups.  One of the women’s statements reads: “Two men caught hold of me and dragged me inside my house. They took off my clothes, tore my blouse and pressed my breasts. One policeman raped me and said, ‘We will burn down your houses. If it wasn’t daytime, we would have killed you.’”The personnel allegedly also raped or sexually assaulted other women, threatened and beat up villagers, and stole poultry, food and money. No arrests have been made or charges filed yet.
 

What is Common In All These Cases ? 

–     The allegations against security force personnel include sexual assault against women, physical assault and verbal abuse of villagers and looting of villagers’ homes.
 
–     In all the cases, the police refused to file an FIR at first, and only agreed to do so after a delay. Under Indian law, refusing to file an FIR in a case of sexual violence is a criminal offence.
 
–     All the FIRs were registered against unnamed security personnel. In the case of the Nendra incident, the victims had identified and named police personnel in their statements, but these names were not listed in the FIR.
 
–     No charges have yet been filed in any of these cases. It has been more than six months since the first incident in Bijapur district.
 

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