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Vigilantism Returns
The security forces in Bastar have embarked on a new and dangerous phase in the conflict with the Maoists.
The Government of Chhattisgarh and the centre are embarking on a very dangerous new phase in their war on the Maoists. Senior officials of the state police have initiated a new avatar of the Salwa Judum, thereby showing that they do not care a fig for the Supreme Court’s directions banning vigilante groups. The Maoists have stepped up their retaliatory violence, including the killing of informers. And on 30 March seven jawans of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were blown up in a bomb blast organised by the Maoists.
Salwa Judum began life as the Jan Jagran Abhiyan, which involved the police assembling villagers at a predetermined place, and forcing them to inform on the sangham members or active Maoist sympathisers in their village. These sangham members were made to surrender and some of them were appointed as special police officers (SPOs), and then armed.
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