The Unexorcised Ghost Of Salwa Judum In Bastar

There is no end to sexual violence and brutality on Adivasis in the Bastar region. Has nothing changed since the Supreme Court banned Salwa Judum? asks Asad Ashraf. 

- Asad Ashraf

How does urban India look at the strife-torn regions of Chhattisgarh? Many of us know of a ‘Mao-ist menace’. Physically far removed from the violence, we often see reports of the Maoist guerrillas in the state blowing up police vehicles and killing soldiers. And we form our opinions on the violence based on the news we consume. Some also know that the Maoists claim to fight for the people — the oppressed Adivasi population in south Chhattisgarh. However, in all, the part of the state where the country seems to be at war with itself constitutes the dark recesses of India’s consciousness. And it has its own demons that the State chooses not to confront. Therefore, we back ‘home’ did not get to hear of any reports of the alleged rape and molestation of nine tribal women during 11-13 January.

Soni Sori, Adivasi activist, Aam Aadmi Party member and alleged victim of torture in police custody (a charge levelled against the security forces repetitively in cases of arrests of Maoist ‘sympathisers’), went to village Bellam Lendra in Bijapur district as part of a fact finding team to probe the matter. The women of the village gave a first hand account to Sori: “Police forces had come to carry out a search operation in the village, because of which the men of the village went into hiding, fearing torture and arrests. In the absence of men, the police forced themselves upon at least nine women from the village.” They went on to describe the horror in graphic detail. “While some men from the forces tightly held the legs and hands of these women, others took their turns upon them, one by one.” The men also humiliated the women by sucking their breasts to see if they were lactating. This was done allegedly on account of the assumption of the police that those women who do not lactate are possible Naxals, as it apparently shows that they are not married.