Mob Consisted Of Outsiders And Criminals, Not Local Villagers As Projected By Police And State, Says Bastar Rights Activist Bela Bhatia

Your house in Bastar was recently set upon by a mob that tried to evict you. The talk is, those men are “locals”. Who are these “locals” and why would they want you to leave?

That is the state version of things, which tries to show that in the village I live in, people don't not want me to stay on. To try and prove this, they project this [mob] as a 'protest' by the 'grameen'. But actually the mob consisted of people from outside, mostly Jagdalpur, even though one or two persons might have been from other hamlets of this village. Some others in the mob have criminal backgrounds, even served time in prison, and are from a locality my landlord lives in, Dharampura in Jagdalpur, where some prominent Agni persons are also from.

So you recognised some in that mob?

Yes. I know that at least one person [in the mob] played quite a prominent role in the Lalkar Rally of the Agni Group, which I attended on September 17 last year. During that rally, which was a completely state and police-sponsored event, my mobile phone was snatched by two persons.

How come you were at that rally too and what happened there?

There, one person followed me and another person, his face covered, snatched my mobile phone. Later, I learned that the person who had been following me is also a member of Agni and the snatcher, I know, is from Dharampura. What I mean is that there are all these kind of links [between the mob, Agni, police etc]. I had gone to the September 17 event because I thought as a writer and should cover all events, not be biased.

Was the mob's arrival on 23rd then the culmination of a sequence of events?

The mob came on 23rd afternoon but importantly, just before that, I had returned from Bijapur. I had gone to Bijapur because I wanted to be of assistance to the visiting NHRC team who were wanting to talk to around 14 adivasi victims of rape and physical and sexual assault in two separate cases of October 2015 and January 2016. Because I had been involved with the cases earlier, I had been the complainant, I had thought that I must be there. This NHRC visit was important because it came after its show-cause notice to the government [on the rapes]. They were coming to complete the task of taking [victim] testimonies that were still pending. I thought it was very important to be of assistance, so that they would be able to locate the women and so that the women would understand the importance of NHRC.

Why would the victims not understand the importance of NHRC’s visit?

Because over the years so many people have talked to them and they have given interviews so many times that they may not be able to judge the importance of this NHRC visit. The victims have been speaking to so many journalists as well... I traveled on the 18th and on 19th and 20th I was there full-time. I had written an article in Outlook magazine called the Pegdapalli files in 2016 which the SC/ST Commission had taken cognizance of and had made a commission. The head of the commission had made very strong recommendations on the basis of that report. Now, already on the 20th evening some team members had informed me that since it was dark, I should not return to my place that night. They had seen some members of the Agni Group moving around on motorcycles and said it was not safe.

So you left the following day?

I reached home on 21st morning and that very night -- rather 1.30 AM -- there was a loud banging on the door. We opened it and found two persons outside, their faces partially covered, asking for my landlord. They were saying they were from the neighbouring village, which my landlord’s family knows very well.

Did he meet them then?

They said they are the sons of R--  My landlord felt they were not telling the truth because [he knew] there was nobody by that name in the neighbouring village. They asked him to come out on the road. But there was no street light outside so we could see nothing. Sensing danger we went back inside and shut the door. We sat for an hour thinking something will happen, or not happen, and then we heard vehicles go by. Next, on the 23rd, at 12.30 PM the mob came to the village and stayed till around 2.30 PM. We learned later that the persons [who came on the 21st and the 23rd] were the same. And for the persons who came on the 23rd, we also have a photo.

Did you take pictures using your phone?

I took one picture. That got me into trouble also.

Why did it get you into trouble?

Because they saw me taking it.

What exactly took place?

I saw two members of the mob alight from their vehicle and go to a hand pump nearby. My dog was barking a lot so I tried reassuring those two that she is harmless. Then one of them said very aggressively, ‘What will she do, we will do’. I asked them what they would do and they responded, ‘kaat dengey’ -- we will cut. That is when I sensed they are not ordinary villagers, they were dangerous. So I took the photo. The moment they saw this, they followed me. First they tried to snatch the mobile but I hid it. They asked others to find the phone but they couldn’t. Then they insisted I vacate the place immediately and started saying they will burn down my house. There were around 20-25 of them, some rushing into the landlord’s part of the house. It was done in a very frightening way, as they told each other to 'get the cans of kerosene' etc.

What did you do then?

Somehow, I managed to convince them that I will be moving out right now, just after I change my clothes. I went inside for two minutes and alerted the collector. Then I locked the door and came out. I tried to walk out to the road, thinking that they would follow me there and thus move away from the house.

Did the police arrive soon?

After about half an hour. But even after the police arrived the mob remained belligerent, shouted slogans. It was not as if the police immediately took the matter into their own hands. A kind of planned aspect to the events became apparent from some WhatsApp messages [against me] already being circulated by various groups. The police were more like a spectator. One of the police persons was taking a video as well. This I will say: if the crowd talked about burning down the house or breaking the lock, the police would say, ‘don’t take the law into your own hands’. This was after my entreaties to them to do something. It was all done very lightly. Yet, even that had some effect. For me it was that at least some third party was involved. Ultimately, we were made to write down something.

What kind of undertaking?

That this place would be vacated by six in the evening the next day. My landlady also said that they had taken her signature on another paper. It said that the villagers are protesting against [me] and that is why the landlady is making me leave. I told the thanedar that my landlady, since she doesn’t read or write, is forcibly being made to say something she doesn’t understand.

Yet there was a letter ultimately signed...

They then got a letter making similar claims against me written by other people.

You mean they circulated that very note and got fresh signatures?

Not circulated. It was written then and there. In our village the sarpanch is a non-tribal married to a tribal. Actually the tribal woman is the sarpanch, he is the sarpanch-pati. Now he is actually quite active, very much with the other side. He had brought some relatives with him, thereby trying to show some involvement of local people but they were mostly his own people. He wrote the various letters right there. A few evenings back, after this incident, I met the chief minister in Jagdalpur and among the large number of people in his tent I saw the head of Agni, an advocate called Anand Mohan Mishra and I saw the sarpanch too, next to Mishra.

You mean they are connected...?

The video the police shot was also circulated in WhatsApp groups, and shared by a leading member of Agni named Subbarao. These things show there is a connection. It is all very open. On 23rd evening the SP of Bastar [RN] Das came to see me with three other SPs, the thanedar and members of Agni, including Subbarao. He [Subbarao] is also a journalist, I think, but he is a very prominent member of Agni.

So the aim is to sequester locals from outsiders, and the Bastar police use different groups to make this possible?

Exactly. Agni is the biggest group now. They even registered it and made it into a ‘national’ kind of organisation though they  exist only here. In the districts there are other groups they mobilize... Like right now [one such group is making] allegations against me related to Somari...

What is the Somari matter?

Somari is my dog’s name. She is a three-year old mutt I have had since she was ten days old. Now, since Facebook is an informal kind of place, after I got Somari, I thought of calling myself Bela Somari on Facebook. This was also my way of protesting against the caste system as I had also converted to Buddhism many years ago and as we all know surnames can identify caste... Anyway, I used Somari as my second name on Facebook but on official work etc I still use my old name. Now the absurd thing is that the same guy wrote in a WhatsApp post that the Bastar locals were angry with me because I was calling myself ‘Somari Nag’.

What purpose would adding a surname serve?

It is actually mischievous because the Maoists here are known to use aliases. This post was as though they are trying to say that I have kept another name, so as if I have some kind of Maoist connection.

It was a kind of aspersion being cast?

"Nag" is also a surname some tribes use here. So when SP Das came to meet me on 23rd evening, when Subbarao was there too, he asked me if I am calling myself Somari. I said, no. Then he said, ‘what is this ‘Nag’?’ I told him I don’t know where that came from either but I explained everything about naming Somari. He then said, this is a matter of tribal sentiment, how can you name your dog Somari? So I said that it must be a dog for you, but I have used the name out of appreciation for the music of the language here rather than as a way of deprecating. I should like to add that I have been working among adivasis here, I have been living in an adivasi household, and many people around me are adivasi. Not one has ever commented to me on Somari’s name. They have in fact taken delight in the fact that she is called Somari. My landlady is a Gond tribal and she has named her cow Kosi, which is also a woman’s name here. So this is just pure, pure mischief.

How did this matter conclude?

On 24th itself this WhatsApp group message about Somari “Nag” appeared and that very evening there was a press conference called by a newly-floated organisation called Adivasi Sangharsh or something on Somari “Nag”.

A whole press conference on just this?

It was about taking objection to how Bela has named her “kutiya” Somari. This was their opportunity to say, ‘look at these outsiders, they don’t even have this much respect. They would name their dog Somari.’ It was basically a way of inciting people against me.

This was around the time the IG Bastar was sending hostile text messages?

Yes, to the many people who wrote to the IG and other officers in my support, one of the responses, from Mr Das, SP Bastar, was, ‘kutiya chup ho ja’ -- shut up, bitch. So actually, if for someone kutiya is an abusive term, then certainly they will feel that if a dog is named something then that word and the language is being lowered. For me this is not so. And as far as the adivasis are concerned, their relationship with nature, with animals [is different] and that is why nobody ever questioned me about naming Somari.

Whereas a non-tribal will not see it this way?

...especially those who are working to create mischief.

Yet you have decided to stay on in Bastar and you have police protection?

Yes there is a suraksha dal. They are here for security.

Are they in your house or outside?

There is an anganwadi centre near my house and they are close to it. In the past I had refused security but now I agreed.

Why is that?

In March 2016 the erstwhile Samajik Ekta Manch organised a rally against me. They had circulated a leaflet with my photo on it, calling me a ‘Naxali dalal’. The law says that the printer’s name should be mentioned on every leaflet distributed to the public. If not then it is illegal. Theirs did not have this information. This was their way to incite people to violence. There was an uproar [against the rally etc] and the state had offered me security, which I had refused.

Why did you decline it?

I had said that I want for myself the same level of security as the ordinary Bastar citizen has. I mean, everybody should be secure, and people are very insecure here. But this time, when they threatened to burn the house I really felt the security might help my landlady and her family also. The whole atmosphere has been so vitiated that I thought it better I accept.

In the last few days has any new incident occurred or are you hearing something specific might happen again?

I did hear of something in the neighbouring village, Pandripani. Somebody told me that they were getting calls from the TI Parpa to mobilize. This I heard on the 23rd itself and that it was being planned for the very next day. But the next day I heard no more of it and anyway the force was present. But I must mention that at around 9 AM on the 24th, I went outside and got the shock of my life because there was not one policeman around. I started thinking of the rumour I had heard, whether it was about to happen or what...

What steps did you take then?

Again I went to my landlady and asked her to stay indoors. Then I called the Parpa thana. They had no idea why the security was missing. After some time two policemen arrived, basically to see if what I had told them was true. I learned from them that the force outside my house were the district reserve men with their HQ in Jagdalpur about an hour, away. They had not been around for at least an hour before I noticed their absence. Even the policemen who came to check on their whereabouts were unarmed. The district reserve men finally came back, and one told me that they had been called away for the Chief Minister’s duty.

So you had quite a scary experience?

Yes for a few hours [day before] yesterday. In the day the home secretary had come, and other officials.

What did they say?

They had basically come to hear what had transpired. I spoke to them quite candidly despite the fact that the SP was there. They had brought the deputy collector also. I shared information with them fully, including about the tweets and SMSes [abusive messages in response to queries on her safety]. In the night I spoke to the CM as well.

So all seems under control...

They will search for an alternative place [for me] and they are ‘providing security’ but what does it mean, actually? Because when the mob had come the police was not able to do anything to control them. From the state’s point of view, the mob was nothing but a protest. But this was no democratic protest -- they were threatening to burn my house. I told the police these were not locals and that even they knew this... Secondly, the police were taking a video but that video has come into WhatsApp in the form of a short clip, shared by [Subbarao]. If the police have taken that video how did he get a hold of it? And even if you have taken the video then one would expect some kind of action on it. I mean, shooting the video means that the evidence is right there under your noses. And if you are not taking action then how can we feel secure?

You feel the the video is frightening for you but for them a show of bravado?

When they were taking the video I thought it was for them to show it to their bosses. But in that situation you would expect the police to be involved in some action other than..

... taking this video?

Yes. Though it is good that they did so as it is a kind of testimony. It is good if it contributes to some kind of action. But if it is just shown around on WhatsApp... Also, they have given me armed men for security but they should have some mob control equipment. I don’t want them to use guns if a mob comes. But I won’t say I am not grateful because the situation was bad in my neighbourhood and I feel that their presence helps.

OK. So have people approached you in the village to ask you to leave?

Nobody. Immediately around me, nobody. Nobody at all. The people here have never complained.

Then why the sudden arrival of a mob on the 23rd?

See the pressure was building up on me since 15th January when a letter was sent to the sarpanch. That letter was as though I have written it and as though I was complaining against villagers including the sarpanch and several other people, whom I don’t even know. [The letter said] that they are illicitly brewing liquor with the police accepting bribes. So what does a letter like that, which I have not written, achieve? The objective was obviously to get people against me.

What then happened?

The sarpanch called my landlord and showed him the letter. Then I told [sarpanch] that I have not written any such letter. And yet, that night the police came. They went into a few houses, supposedly looking for illegal liquor. On the 17th morning again my landlord was called by the sarpanch and said that if he doesn't evict me then he [and some others] will say in a letter that he is responsible if anything happens to this village. So all this is upsetting isn’t it? I knew what was happening. I knew, because there was [yet] another [earlier] letter sent in October.

There seem to be many letters being written?

So in November the police here burned effigies of six people, including mine. Then on November 10 my landlord was called by the thana and told that there was a letter against him. I also went to the thana. That letter had six names on it -- the village Patel and his son, the kotwalni and her son, one shopkeeper and one other person who has an ongoing land dispute with my landlord.

What did that letter say?

That my landlord is a government employee and he has two wives. That he has kept in his house an ‘unknown woman’ who gets a lot of visitors who are all suspicious, giving the village and Bastar a bad reputation. And that my landlord is responsible if anything happens here. In the thana he was only asked one thing: Do you have two wives. He said, no, he didn’t. As for the ‘unknown woman’ -- in February when Malini was being moved against, even I was called to the thana and asked to give documentation, my photos, ID, etc. So I was not an unknown person. I have been in this village for over one year.

Does anything explain this pattern of letter-writing?

Some lawyers told me that they [the state] were building a paper trail against me, just to show that repeated complaints arise from the village. Because of the entire attack against outsiders.

But six local people did send this letter...

Out of the six whose names on the letter, I found out that none had signed it. The Kotwalin even said, as she is sixth standard pass, she was offended that a thumb impression had been placed in front of her name.

What do you in these circumstances -- complain, take action?

I thought that this was a village matter and that I would let my landlord take the lead. He said he would find out whether any of the six persons had written the letter or not. This he did, and told me they had not. Again, on whether to take action, I let them decide. I didn’t even put it out in the media. At that time [November] a gram sabha was going on here and I put my case there. The kotwal said there that I have not written any such letters. I also told the gram sabha to please tell me if I am welcome in the village. They told me they will hold a special gram sabha on this issue.

What happened in the special gram sabha?

They said they would hold it but they didn’t.

And soon after the NHRC team came to Bastar and you went to the villages for testimonies of victims?

So, the letter sent on the 15th, the police visit to the village on the 16th and on the 17th when the landlord was called to the police station, was all part of the build up. After all this, I wanted to visit the Collector and the Commissioner. That is when I heard about the NHRC team coming. I thought now that I would travel on the 18th, return on 21st and then meet them. But when I came back, this mob thing happened, so you can see the pattern and planning...

Now the state government would try and find a temporary place for you?

Yes that is the request I had made actually, to the Collector. I needed help, as I could not stay here any more, so I had said I need a place, a garage, a godown to at least keep my things. He was quite responsive, he said not a garage but he would try to manage something else. But the CM perhaps didn’t like so much the idea of finding me another place and was more keen on knowing if I can still stay here...

But you cannot stay on in the village?

I had explained to them that the people who stay here are not involved in the mob and that the criminal elements in that mob are now well known, and that I don’t think it will be possible for me to stay on here considering the difficulties my landlord and his family will face. I had said that they should assess their own security needs, and my view was that even if we arrive at some kind of understanding, I don’t see how we can control the outsiders. So I have to go and the sooner the better, to avoid any kind of escalation.

Why do you wish to continue in Bastar -- many have left, albeit under pressure?

I think for me personally it’s because when I came to Bastar it was to live here, not only to work. When I came here I knew that it is a difficult place. Therefore I accept the challenges. The issues we are fighting and up against, it’s certainly not a pleasant situation at all but then the ordinary Bastar resident doesn’t have a choice, right? They have only this home so they have to stay here, right.

What would you achieve under the circumstances?

Sometimes the point comes that we have to take the challenge head-on. I think the situation in Bastar has become really terrible under the present regime and the present leadership provided by the inspector-general of police...

You are referring to Mr Kalluri, the IG?

Yes I am. I feel that there is a complete impunity. They are not respecting the rule of law and they are not allowing independent observers or those from ‘outside’, or anybody who would want to work here in their professional capacity. Therefore I feel that all state institutions in Bastar, especially the police, needs to respect the rule of law. And for pressing these kind of issues further I think we need to struggle, that is all. It is tough but I feel that more people should come. You have to say that many of us are going to come, this is not going to stop us.

Speaking of Mr Kalluri’s SMSes. Were you surprised by their tone?

I was very shocked. There can always be differences but you cannot cross a line of basic politeness. There is a dignity of the other person that you cannot trample upon so easily. We do not expect this kind of talk from anybody, much more so from somebody who is a public servant and an authority. How can citizens feel at ease if its officials are speaking this language?

So it is incredibly difficult for people from outside to work in Bastar?

Yes. But it is worse for locals because they don’t have connections outside, unlike those from Delhi and other metropolises. Because of our education, our English for that matter and our ‘social capital’. There is no doubt we are at an advantage compared with local professionals, such as journalists, who have been harassed, killed or jailed.