Bungle In The Bastar Jungle

Close on the heels of a crackdown on journalists, lawyers and NGO workers from outside the state, the Chhattisgarh administration in Bastar has started to crack down on local journalists as well. The efforts are led by a group called the Samajik Ekta Manch, which the opposition claims has the backing of the police IG of Bastar region.

Meanwhile, Deepak Karma — Congress leader in Dantewada and son of slain anti-Naxal movement leader, Mahendra Karma — claims that this crackdown is a concerted effort between the police and an organisation called Samajik Ekta Manch, which ironically comprises people from outside the state."Samajik Ekta Manch was formed as an anti-Naxal organisation with the backing of IG Kalluri after my brother Chhavindra Karma backed out of rehashing a Salwa Judum-like movement with the IG," Deepak Karma told Outlook.

On March 23, Dantewada police arrested journalist Prabhat Singh who was already in judicial custody for a day. On March 21, plainclothes policemen from the Jagdalpur police station in neighbouring Bastar district had whisked him off in an unmarked vehicle in Dantewada town, where Singh lives. Till late on Tuesday, March 22, Singh's whereabouts were unknown. The Dantewada SP, Kamlochan Kashyap, was also not aware whether Prabhat had been arrested or abducted till the journalist was produced in court and remanded to judicial custody till March 31 on Tuesday evening. "I was informed later," he told Outlook.

A bystander who witnessed the arrest said that the whole exercise had taken place like a security forces counter insurgency operation. Newspaper reports quoted his brother as saying that Prabhat was not allowed to wear his slippers before being taken away.

Kashyap said that the Dantewada police placed Singh under arrest while already in custody for three criminal cases filed against the journalist a year ago. "In two cases, he has been accused of cheating people for making Aadhar cards by charging them extra. In another, a school principal lodged a complaint against Singh for trying to photograph an ongoing examination," he said.

Singh is a stringer (or contributing) journalist for the Hindi daily Patrika and was also a stringer for the Hindi news channel, ETV till his services were terminated on March 19. Additionally, he also makes Aadhar cards for a living.

Regarding the other complaint, another journalist in Bastar said that Singh had gone to report on the examinations and had tried to photograph students cheating. "The principal did not want him to report it and there was a heated argument between the two. Later, the principal filed a false complaint against him," he said.

The same journalist described Prabhat as an outspoken journalist. "He would speak him mind everywhere and the authorities did not like that," he added. The police have arrested Singh under the Information Technology Act acting upon the complaint of another journalist, Santosh Tiwari, who was the 'administrator' of a WhatsApp group.

According to sources, members of the said group, who were also with an organization called the Samajik Ekta Manch, had threatened they would complain to the police against both Tiwari and Prabhat if Tiwari did not lodge a police complaint himself.

Prabhat Singh had retorted to comments about freedom of expression by the said members of the Samajik Ekta Manch and had complained about them to Dantewada police. However, the police chose to act against his comments which were allegedly against the Bastar region inspector general of police, SRP Kalluri.

Coming back to the two Karma brothers, who are Congress leaders and sons of Mahendra Karma, who had led the Salwa Judum movement nearly a decade ago. The movement, with the support of both the Congress and BJP, pitted tribals against each other and led to mass migrations of villagers, who remain displaced since then. On May 25, 2013, Karma and other Congress leaders were gunned by Maoist guerrilla rebels as vindication for targeting the LWE movement. On the death anniversary last year, Chhavindra Karma was expected to announce restarting the Salwa Judum with the help of IG Kalluri under the banner of Bastar Vikas Sangharsh Samiti.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi threw a spanner in the works and asked the Karmas to abstain from floating the movement because of the massive human rights cost due to the Salwa Judum movement. "He told us to strengthen ourselves politically first," said Karma.

At the event to mark the senior Karma's death anniversary, the IG had said that 'outsiders' traipsed into Bastar and dictated worsened the conflict situation hinting at the journalists present there.

As per Karma, the IG then helped set up the Samajik Ekta Manch which comprises non-tribals and ironically most of them are non-natives of Chhattisgarh.

"The meetings are held in the IG's bungalow and the Manch members are close to him. Several of them are local contractors and small-time politicians. They had made extravagant arrangements for a marriage ceremony to wed surrendered Naxals, which was funded the union home ministry through the police," says Karma.

Prabhat Singh and other journalists had reported on the Maoist surrenders in Bastar, questioning many of them. "Many of these surrenders are questionable. The state government has not accepted around 200 of the total surrenders reported by the police. In effect, they mostly force villagers to surrender who have nothing to do with the Maoists. There are some others who have traveled with the Maoists and worked as cooks and performed other menial tasks," says Karma.

"There are several human rights violations here and the IG has also tried to make our work difficult. I was forced to approach chief minister Raman Singh. The CM called Kalluri on the spot and asked him to settle all differences with me. The police have made life difficult for both journalists, NGO volunteers and also villagers for aiding Maoists," says Karma.

Apart from Singh, two other journalists were arrested last year and have remained in custody since then. Last month, Scroll.in contributor Malini Subramanian was also hounded by members of the Samajik Ekta Manch for reporting on Bastar. The Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group, a group of lawyers fighting cases for tribals in several fake encounter cases, have also been pressurized into giving up their office and moving out.