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http://m.thehindu.com/news/national/article2359198.ece/?page=all
Encounter killing of village headman sparks unrest in Dantewada
15 August 2011, Aman Sethi
A set of well thumbed photographs are being passed around by protestors
gathered outside the Sukma post-office in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district.
The first is passport-sized, of a well-built, thirty year old man called
Madkami Massa in a pale blue shirt smiling into the camera, the other
grainier image shows Mr. Massa’s contorted corpse on a white slab – his
right arm severed at the elbow, his chest pierced by a bullet.
For the past week, Mr. Massa’s violent end has brought residents from his
village of Chikpal out onto the streets. On August 6, the Chhattisgarh
police claimed to have killed an armed and uniformed Maoist guerilla and
recovered his body during an early morning raid in Neelavaram village in
Dantewada district. Two CRPF constables were injured during an exchange of
fire and were admitted at the government hospital in Sukma. The body of the
slain guerilla was kept at the morgue, autopsied and buried. Four days
later, the body was identified as Mr. Massa on the basis of police
photographs.
Chikpal’s residents insist that Mr. Massa was picked up from his village on
August 5, a day prior to the alleged firefight, taken to the Central Reserve
Police Force camp at Kerlapal and shot the next day in a staged encounter.
Villagers say that Mr. Massa was the ‘mukhiya’ of Chikpal, a hereditary
social position like a village headman, and had no connections with the
Maoists. While Dantewada’s Superintendent of Police, Ankit Garg, and the
CRPF maintain that the operation was genuine, the villagers are supported by
statements from local politicians, their Congress MLA, Kowasi Lakma, and
former MLA Manish Kunjam.
If the allegations are true, Dantewada’s security forces could be
responsible for the illegal detention and summary execution of a young
adivasi man.
“CRPF soldiers from Kerlapal came to Chikpal at about 12 o clock on August
5,” said resident Irma Ram Markami in a recent interview, “They gathered
everyone and shouted at us for not helping build the new CRPF camp. They
warned us not to support the Maoists and then started searching some of the
men.”
Irma said that Madkami Massa was singled out because he was a strong, well
built young man with knotty muscles along his shoulders and back. “They
[CRPF] said he was built like a Maoist and they took him away,” Irma Ram
said.
“Villagers from Chikpal called me on the same day [August 5] and said Massa
had been picked up by the CRPF,” said Kowasi Lakma, the MLA of Konta. “I
called the police and asked them to release him, but they said they didn’t
have him. The next morning [August 6] I heard about the encounter and later
realized Massa had been killed. This is a completely fake encounter.”
“Apart from Massa, others have been picked up by the forces and held
without any charges like Muchaki Hidma from Phoolbagdi and Rava Hadma from
Samsetti village,” said Manish Kunjam, Sukma resident and former MLA of
Konta, who said that young men were routinely questioned by security forces
and detained for long periods without being formally charged.
Rava Hadma has been released, but Muchaki Hidma is still untraced. A source
in the police said that Rava Hadma had confirmed he was kept in captivity
with Madkami Massa for a few hours before the two men were separated.
Officials in the CRPF insist that Mr. Massa was killed in combat. “There was
a genuine exchange of fire,” said CPRF Inspector General for anti-Maoist
operations, Pankaj Singh, “Two of our men were injured and a uniformed body
was recovered with a weapon.”
“Two CRPF constables were treated on August 6 and were discharged the same
day,” said Dr. Pekre, at Sukma Hospital, “Both men had minor burns below the
knee from what they said was a petrol bomb. One injury was about 2 inches by
2 inches, the other was smaller.”
“Massa’s right arm was blown away by what could have been a grenade,” said
Dr. Pekre, who conducted the postmortem, “A bullet had entered his ribcage
on the right side and exited on the left. He died from these injuries.”
When asked, Dr. Pekre added that the body showed no outward signs of
torture.
In a phone call last evening, Maoist commander Ramanna said that security
forces and Maoists did not clash on August 6. “Our forces did not exchange
fire with the security forces that day. Massa was killed in cold blood,” he
said, adding that Mr. Massa had never worked for the Maoists.
One theory, according to a source in the district police, is that Madkami
Massa's death is a tragic case of mistaken identity. On May 17 this year
seven CRPF troopers from the CRPF’s IInd battalion were killed in an IED
explosion. Over the last month, the CRPF and district police arrested one
Dilip from Badde Setti in connection with the blast. Three others –
including a man called Madkami Massa are still at large.
