Locals, activists denounce Bijapur encounter fake, say those killed were not Naxalites

Two days after the police claimed to have killed 12 Naxalites during an encounter in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, locals and activists have alleged that the exchange of fire was fake and those killed were not Maoists.

Amid the allegations, the Congress sought to target the ruling party, saying that unexpected political pressure on security forces should not be such that their actions are questioned.

The police on Friday, 11 May had claimed that they had neutralised 12 Naxalites in a forest near Pidia village under Gangaloor police station limits in an encounter during an anti-Naxalite operation.

Police also identified the dead Naxalites and claimed that they all carried cash rewards.

Some people were also rounded up during the operation, police had said.

Local villagers, mostly women, and family members of the deceased who had been camping in Bijapur district headquarters since Saturday, 12 May accused the police of staging a fake encounter, a charge rejected by the police.

Protesting women in their local dialect claimed that police gunned down residents of Pidia and nearby Itawar village when they had gone to pluck tendu leaves, a source of livelihood for many in the region.

A woman, who identified herself as Avlam Budri, said her husband was picked up by the police when he had gone to pluck tendu leaves on Friday and she is unaware whether he is alive.

She too spoke in the local dialect which was translated into Hindi by tribal activist Soni Sori, who was accompanying them.

Talking to reporters Sori said that Friday’s encounter was fake and police opened fire on people from Pidia and Itawar villages out in the forest to pluck tendu leaves.

Sori said she would visit the village and gather more details about the incident.

Echoing similar claims, one Rakesh Avlam told some local media persons in his Pidia village that police chased villagers who were plucking tendu leaves and gunned them down.

Avlam, who is associated with tendu leaf collection work, claimed his cousin brother Motu Avlam who was also collecting the leaves suffered bullet injuries in police firing.

In visuals, Motu with bullet injuries on his leg was seen lying on a bed in the village.

Rakesh and another villager, Lakkhu, claimed that those killed were natives of Pidia and Itawar, stressing that they were not Naxalites.

Deputy Inspector General of Police (Dantewada region-South Bastar) Kamlochan Kashyap refuted the claims, asserting that those killed in the encounter were Maoists and carrying cash rewards.

Reacting to a media report on claims of fake encounter by villagers, former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel of Congress said it is necessary to solve the Naxal menace but an unexpected political pressure on security forces should not be such that their actions are questioned.

Baghel shared the media report on X and wrote, “...The security forces should also keep in mind that ultimately their commitment is towards the Constitution. It is also necessary to warn the BJP government of the state not to repeat its past of torturing the tribals in the name of ending Naxalism.”