JHARKHAND MIRROR

JHRM Team with NHRC DIG Mamta Singh

The ‘Saranda’ literally means a forest of seven hundred small hills is also known as the largest Sal Forest in Asia, situated in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. Approximately, 10,000 Adivasi families with the population of 1 lakh 25 thousand Adivasis live in the forest. The Adivasis depend on agriculture, forest produces and livestock for their livelihood. The forest is full of Iron-Ore therefore; there was always clash between the community and the business interest, which created space for the Maoist. Consequently, today the Maoists rule the vicinity. The Jharkhand police and the paramilitary forces have been carrying on series of joint operations against the Maoists. The “Operation Anaconda” was the last in the queue carried out in the Saranda forest from 1^st to 31^st of August 2011, led to rampant human rights violations of the Adivasis.  Read more…

Suniya, his wife and Mangri Honhaga (right)

30 year-old Mangri Honhanga along with her 4 month-old son Dula Honhanga and other family-members had desperately come to Ranchi the capital city of Jharkhand after travelling for more than 6 hours right from Saranda forest in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand last week with the hope of getting justice. Both the mother and child have been suffering from illness – Dula is grade-3 malnourished patient and Mangri has been suffering from anaemia but they have no choice rather than facing all kinds of sufferings. The life was little better for them before 2 bullets of COBRA Jawans end the life of 38 year-old Mangal Honhanga the father of Dula and Mangri’s husband. Therefore, they had come to share their pains, sufferings and agony with the Chief Minister, the Top cops and of course, with the Media. Mangri Honhanga only knows that her husband was picked-up by the police from her house, taken to the forest and finally dead body was handed over to her.  Read more…

Anup and other children

Anup Oraon is merely 10 months old Adivasi boy. He was born in mid of the summer in 2010. He started traveling in the winter. And now travelling has become part and parcel of his life. However, his travel is different from others. His travel is unique. He has been traveling with his mother Nirmala Kanti Oraon with the hope that one day someone will hear his cry. Of course, his travel is for demand of justice. He has already attended several public hearings, mass meetings, protests, seminars and conferences across the country, where he shared his agony with people and demand justice for his father, uncle and neighbours. 

Last time, I met him in a national seminar held in Bhopal the capital city of Madhya Pradesh. It was the beginning of summer, when he had come to Bhopal with his mother to tell the concerned people about their pains, sufferings and sorrows. However, the climate of Bhopal added salt in his wound. He started suffering from cold, cough and fever. His mother was worried. She told me that they have traveled to many places but this time Anup fell sick. She said in anxiety, “I’m worried if something happen to my child, how I can explain to my husband when he comes out of the Jail.” She was there to tell the people that how the Odisha police humiliated, tortured and put her innocent husband in jail after branding him as a member of the CPI-Maoist.  Read more…

An Adivasi woman in her burnt house in Dantewada

India’s security budget grows up every year and even the economic crisis does not make any difference to it. The Indian government spends most of its money for the security of its own people. Apart from this, the government also has special budget allocation for dealing with the internal security threat and several state governments also spend the money on security, allocated for the Tribal Sub-plan. Ironically, the government (s) use the money to kill the Adivasis, which is supposed to be spent for their welfare and development. The innocent Adivasis are victimized most of the time in the process of dealing with the security threat. The fastest growing state of Chhatisgarh is the living example of it, where the Adivasis have been victimized by the paramilitary forces, local police and Koya Commandos (an armed Tribal police comprising of surrendered Maoists) but instead of taking action against the perpetrators, the state justifies their inhuman acts and shield them.

In the recent incident, Chhattisgarh’s Koya commandos, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and CoBRA battalions burnt more than 300 houses and food grains, raped 5 Adivasi women and killed 5 men of Timapuram, Morpalli and Tarmetla villages of Dantewada between March 11 and March 16, 2011 alleging them as the Maoists during the ongoing special police operations against the Maoists in the region. The security forces comprising of 200 Koyas, 150 CoBRA and 50 CRPF Jawans carried out intensive operations in the vicinity on the report of a surrendered Maoist, who claimed about the existence of Maoists’ arms factory at Morpalli village and also the intelligence inputs indicated about the presence of 100 Maoists in the vicinity.  However, the security forces neither find any arms factory nor the Maoists. The police also accepted that the people killed during the operations were not the Maoists but the villagers. Indeed, these people who were victimized by the security forces were neither Maoists nor their supporters but they were innocent people living in their ancestors’ villages. Can P. Chidambaram, the corporate Home Minister tell us what kinds of anti-naxal operations are these where innocent villagers were killed, women were raped and their houses, clothes and food-grains were burnt by the security forces? Read more…

Jury Members

The Independent People’s Tribunal on Operation Green Hunt held in Ranchi on 25^th and 26^th of September, 2010 under the banner of the Jharkhand Alternative Development Forum with the support of Operation Green Hunt Virodhi Nagrik Manch, Jharkhand Indigenous People’s Forum, Jharkhand Initiatives Desk, Jharkhand Jungle Bachao Andolan, Jharkhand Mines Area Coordination Committee and many other groups.

The renowned author and activist Ms. Arundhati Roy was present as a special observer in the IPT. The esteemed members of the Jury were Retd Judge of Jharkhand High Court, Justice Vikramaditya Prasad, Sri Prashant Bhushan Senior Supreme Court advocate, Sri K.S. Subramanian, I.P.S. and former Director General of Police, Sri C.S. Jha, former CMD of BCCL and ECL and others. We are sharing the observations and recommendations of the Jury. We hope it will have a huge impact in the human rights movement. Read more…