Morung Express News
November 10
DIMAPUR: After the allegation that the 9 NAP battalion in Chattisgarh is killing more dogs than militants, a more serious charge has been leveled against the Naga jawans. The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), a powerful human rights organization founded during the emergency period said in an appeal that an Anganwadi worker named Sonia was beaten by the jawans of the Naga battalion, tied up with ropes at the ankle, dragged in this condition to the police station and forced to spend the night in the lock up along with men, all on the suspicion that she was a Naxalite supporter. Similar stories of excesses committed on women by Police, CRPF, and Naga forces have been recounted by NGO activists from Dantewara, according to the PUCL.
“There has been a phenomenal increase in the Police and CRPF presence in Bastar including Dantewara in the recent past, and the latest addition to this force is a contingent of the Naga battalion, notorious for its excesses on the civilian population in the North-East,” the appeal said.
Dr Binayak Sen, the General Secretary of the PUCL Chattisgarh chapter and who is also the national Vice President of the organization PUCL, India has appealed to all human rights organizations in the country as well as to intellectuals and all democratic forces with regard to the deteriorating human rights situation in the state of Chhattisgarh. “The situation is fast reaching an explosive point and we request your support and urgent response,” Sen said and maintained that the questions of Maoism and Naxalism in the tribal areas of the state cannot be seen as a law and order problem but must be seen in the overall social, economic and political context.
