The Government of Violence : A Massacre In Dandakaranya

international | rights and freedoms | other press Monday July 16, 2012 18:06 by pat c

The media are quick report massacres in Syria. However when real State massacres of civilians take place in India you rarely hear anything. Full text at link.

When we entered the village there was a solemn air about it. The only humans we saw there were some heavily armed paramilitary forces inside the bushes - they might have been from CoBRA force or CRPF. The men in arms averted our gaze. They couldn't meet our eye with the shadow of the dastardly act of a few days ago looming large over them.

Heavily armed State paramilitary forces inside the bushe

8pm on the evening of 28 th June, Kottaguda village in Bijpapur District, Chattisgarh.

There was a meeting being held to discuss the upcoming seed festival - Beeja Pondum. It was a wet monsoon night. Some people from other villages, like Sarkeguda and Rajpenta, were also attending the meeting. A few children loitered around playfully. At 10pm , the CoBRA force and CRPF cordoned off the villages and started firing indiscriminately and without any warning.

The first attack came from the west, and instantly killed three adivasis. This was quickly followed by firing from three other directions. Terrified villagers started running – some tried to take shelter, some ran towards their respective villages. Yet, the bullets continued to spray for another 30 minutes. Then, as if to survey the dead, the CRPF forces fired two flare guns that lit up the area. They languidly ambled through the scene and collected the dead bodies that remained.

Six of the dead were minors, including a 12-year old girl, Kaka Saraswati, daughter of K Rama. She was hit while fleeing towards her house in Kottaguda. Of the other five minors, two -- Kaka Rahul (16) and Madkam Ramvilas (16) -- were studying in class 10 at a school in Basaguda. Both stayed at a hostel in Basaguda and were visiting home during the summer vacations.

Massacred civilians, easy to mistake them for Maoist guerrillas.

Villager shows photo of murdered loved one.