Women in the Naxal-affected states are being targeted by the Salwa Judum, says a fact-finding committee of women activists.
NEW DELHI: Gang rapes, molestation, sex slaves and fake encounters... women in the Naxal-affected states are being targeted by the Salwa Judum, says a fact-finding committee of women activists.
In a report, which was released by littérateur Arundhati Roy, a team of women activists, along with the members of National Commission for Women (NCW), has found that Salwa Judum, an anti-Naxalite campaign group, along with the Naga battalion and state police, is playing havoc with the lives of tribals in the naxal-affected states. And the worst affected are the women and children.
Hundreds of Salwa Judum cadres (most of them minors) known as Special Police Officers, armed with full military training, are gunning for Naxalites in Chhattisgarh. However, human right activists say that it has created a civil war situation for the tribals here and they are tortured by both Naxals and the Salwa Judum.
The team of women activists visited various districts of Chhattisgarh to probe the conditions of safety, security and livelihood of Adivasi women in the background of intense militarisation and reports of atrocities on women.
“It is a very disturbing document,” said Roy. “We are injecting vigilant violence in the bloodstreams of tribals through Salwa Judum,” she added.
It was found that since villagers have been forced to abandon their lands, villages and livestock, in the ‘clean up operation’ to remove naxalities, most of them are unemployed, resulting in malnourishment and undernourishment. Parents have been forced to send their children to far off ashram schools so that they can get mid-day meals their only meal of the day. The UNICEF has also identified 78 children suffering from Grade 4 malnutrition. There is no medical care facility in the camps.
A large number of underage girls have been recruited as Special Police Officers (SPOs) by the state governments to be part of the counter insurgency team of Salwa Judum. Women SPOs are not allowed to leave thana premises even in the night and there have been cases of sexual abuse with about 50 cases of termination of pregnancy of women SPOs being found in Dantewara district.
The NCW has protested saying it is making child soldiers and robbing them off their childhood.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}