The Congress on Monday demanded a fair investigation into the systematic atrocities allegedly being committed by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Chhattisgarh government on the poor, Dalits and Adivasis, and accused the Raman Singh administration of blatantly muzzling journalists who report on these incidents by intimidating them.

The Opposition party accused the chief minister of shielding those responsible and alleged that the state government – like the BJP-led government at the Centre – was deliberately suppressing the voices of the people. It said that as head of the nation and a member of the party heading the state government, the prime minister is equally accountable for the atrocities being committed in Chhattisgarh.

Congress spokesperson Ajoy Kumar specifically mentioned the case of Scroll.in contributor Malini Subramaniam, who was intimidated by members of the Samajik Ekta Manch, which is led by BJP functionary Manish Parekh. Members of the group had warned Subramaniam against writing articles that tarnished the image of the police and later threw stones at her house. Kumar said that no action had been taken against the perpetrators despite the incident being condemned by several prominent media bodies, including the Editors Guild of India, Press Council of India, the National Union of Journalists and the International Federation of Journalists.

“Journalists exposing the unconstitutional and illegal acts of the BJP governments at the Centre and in different states have been abused and intimidated,” Kumar said. “This is a serious issue and a fair probe must be ordered into all these all these cases.”

Continuing involvement

The harassment of journalists in the state is not limited to Subramaniam's case. Somaru Nag, an Adivasi reporter who freelanced for Rajasthan Patrika, was arrested in July. The police accused him of being a Maoist sympathiser and collaborating with a group of villagers to set fire to equipment being used to build roads in the state. Even though the gram sabha of Tirathgarh village maintained that Nag was innocent, no investigation has been conducted so far.

Two months later, freelance journalist Santosh Yadav was arrested for allegedly advising residents of Badrimahu village, who were protesting against the illegal detention of seven villagers, to seek legal help.

Both journalists remain in detention.

“The systematic attack on the basic Constitutional right to life and that of dissent and freedom of expression is writ large in these cases,” Kumar said.

Bhupesh Baghel, president of the Congress’ Chhattisgarh unit, said that while journalists who write about human rights violations and police excesses are physically attacked, political leaders who seek answers are meted out the same treatment.

“No journalist in Chhattisgarh can write freely... he or she is either attacked or even killed,” Baghel said. “The state is a fit case for the imposition of central rule.”

Police hand

He said a fact-finding team sent by the Congress had got details of several instances where Adivasi women in Bastar were tortured and raped “at the hands of the police”.

In one such case reported last October, 15 women from Peddagelur and Chinnagelur in Bijapur district alleged that they were intimidated, beaten and molested by the police.

The Congress also cited the case of Meena Khalkho, an Adivasi girl from Sarguja in North Chhattisgarh. While the Chhattisgarh police claimed a Maoist woman was gunned down in an exchange of fire, a judicial enquiry into the incident found that the police version was fabricated and that Khalkho was not from the extremist outfit.

Baghel alleged that the Adivasis in Bastar have no rights and that they are first arrested and then declared Maoists.

Kumar also drew attention to the growing practice of “fake surrenders” in Chhattisgarh. He said police records showed that only 10 of the 70 men and women who had surrendered had any criminal record, while the others were innocent. He also referred to former additional director general of police (Naxal operations) RK Vij's announcement last month that the claims of 200 of the 800 surrendered Maoists for rehabilitation were rejected after scrutiny.