INDIA: Eleven children and a young man shot dead in Chhattisgarh by the Indian Reserve Battalion

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Chhattisgarh state, India regarding the killing of eleven children and a young man in Nendra village of Dantewada district. The incident happened on March 13, 2007. The children and the man killed in the incident were from the tribal community of the state. No action has yet been taken against the persons responsible for the incident.

CASE DETAILS:

On March 13, 2007 a search operation was conducted by the India Reserve Battalion (IRB) from Nagaland stationed in Chhattisgarh state in Nendra village of Dantewada district of the state. The battalion was accompanied by armed carders of the Salwa Judum. Salwa Judum is a private armed militia sponsored by the state government to curb Naxalite activities in the state.

As the battalion and the Salwa Judum entered the village the people started to run away from the village gearing that they will be killed or tortured. The battalion and the Salwa Judum searched the houses and found nothing and within hours they were returning. On their way away from the village they found the children taking bath by the side of a well in the village. There were eleven of them. The well is a bit off from the village houses and when the elders fled the village, they had not realised that some of the children were left behind by the side of the well.

Seeing the children, the IRB and Salwa Judum asked the children to form a line. Unfortunately they could not form a line. The IRB men, without any provocation opened fire at the children hitting them point blank and killing them all instantaneously. The IRB and the Salwa Judum returned from the village and on their way they also shot dead Mr. Soyam Nareya of the same village who was returning from his work. The elders in the village who returned after the IRB and Salwa Judum returned found that their children had been shot dead. The villagers refused to inform the incident to the police since they complain that the local police as well as the state government are behind the incident and there is no point in complaining. They also informed that if they complained they would be further targeted and that the force would be sent back.

The children killed in the incident are:

1. Soyam Rama, aged 16 years – father’s name Dula
2. Soyam Raju, aged 2 years – father’s name Penta
3. Vajam Rama, aged 11 years – father’s name Ganga
4. Madakam Ramily, aged 5 years – father’s name Ganga
5. Madakam Buddaraiah, aged 14 years – father’s name Unga
6. Midiyam Nagaiah, aged 5 years – father’s name Bajari
7. Sodi Irma, aged 12 years – father’s name Yarma
8. Podium Adama, aged 7 years – father’s name Unga
9. Vetti Raju, aged 9 years – father’s name Masa
10. Madakam Ithe, aged 13 – father’s name Kessa
11. Soyam Raju, aged 12 years – father’s name Bheemulu

As if in response to the incident, about 300 Naxalites attacked a police outpost at Radi Bodli, Bijapur district on March 15, 2007. The Naxalites opened indiscriminate fire upon the police outpost killing fifty five officers. Later, in a similar incident twenty four state security persons were killed in an ambush set-up by the Naxalits.

The villagers in Nendra are no way related to the Naxalite movement in the state. However, when the Naxalites retaliated a few days after the killing of the children in Nendra, the state authorities are no accusing the villagers in Nendra as Naxalites. This however does not justify killing by each sides in any way. The AHRC has been informed that no action whatsoever has been taken against the persons responsible for the killing of the children. For further information regarding armed conflict going on in Chhattisgarh please visit INDIA: By the year 2020 there will be no indigenous population in India & INDIA: A comparison between India and three African states.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please send a letter to authorities in India asking them to intervene in this case. The AHRC is writing a separate letter to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions calling for an intervention in this case.

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