Caught between two sickles:

The story of women living in the red corridor

Shwetika Kumar

(shwetikakumar@gmail.com)

Naxalism: The genesis• 1967,Naxalbari, West Bengal

– Violent uprising by a section of Communist Party of India (Marxist)

– The rebellion spreads to regions including West Bengal, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and parts of Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.

• May 1968 – All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries

(AICCCR) is formed • May 1969

– AICCR splits into Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) and Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)

• All these outfits converged on the idea of an “armed struggle”

Salwa Judum – An unchecked power• 2005,Bijapur, Chhattisgarh – Literally means “purification hunt” or “”peace march”– Started as a vigilante group or people’s resistance movement

against the Naxals by the people of Chhattisgarh– State government adopts the organization to restore

democratic rule in the Naxal affected– Spread to hundreds of villages in the districts of Chhattisgarh– Violent raids, rapes, human rights abuses, burning of homes,

displacement of people, herding of villages and tribals into make shift camps

– Held responsible for “reported” 537 murders, 99 rapes, 103 cases of arson and burning of 644 villages

• Special Police Officers (SPO’s) – Special Police Officers popularly known as the Koya commandos– Tribal youth drawn from Salwa Judum camps and ex-naxalites

employed by the State police of Chhattisgarh– Paid honorarium of Rs.3000 ($60) per month by the State (as of

2011)• Bal Sangam

– Group of child soldiers appointed by the Salwa Judum– Over 12,000 minors appointed in 2008 – The youngest minors are aged 6 years

Internal Displacements

• 23 camps across Chhattisgarh• 50,000 displaced villagers from 600 villages• 65,000 villagers fled to Maharashtra• 30,000 – 50,000 settled in Andhra Pradesh

“Neither the government nor the Naxals have left any room for

neutrality”

Violence against women• Violence of Salwa Judum has serious repercussions on women• Many young girls working as SPO’s end up as victims of rape by

fellow male colleagues• Women in Salwa Judum camps reduced to selling their bodies for as

low as Rs.30 (60 cents)• Many victims of rape, sexual abuses put in police custody and

labeled as “naxalite” or murdered• With no security in the Judum camps the women also suffer at the

hands of Naxalites who attack these camps from time to time• The police refuse to accept complaints and the women are

threatened with “severe consequences” if they try to speak up

The forgotten Soni Soris of India

Background: • 28 year old tribal woman from Gompad village in Dantewada

district of Chhattisgarh• Shot in the leg by security forces on Oct 1st 2009 in front of her

children aged 3 and 5• Missing since January 2010 after police detained her for questioning

Her Crime:• Witness to a massacre in her village by security forces and SPO’s

Sodi Sambo

NAME: SodiAGE: A minor when rapedDISTRICT: DantewadaACCUSES: Salwa Judum SPOs

NAME: Madvi SaritaAGE: 25-30DISTRICT: DantewadaACCUSES: Salwa Judum, Naga battalion, paramilitary forces

NAME: GantalAGE: Possibly between 18-20 years oldDISTRICT: BijapurACCUSES: Salwa Judum SPOs of raping and killing his sister, and killing his father

Humanitarian Catastrophe!