Areas such as Chintagufa in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district are rarely in the news and when they are it is never good. April 24 was one of those days. The Bastar conflict zone saw another bloodbath. Twenty-five Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans were killed by Maoists in Chintagufa-Burkapal area while they were guarding a road construction site. Even before the country could come to terms with the gruesome murder of these men, the Hindustan Times in its report, claimed that their bodies were mutilated by Maoists. The paper also claimed that it had a photograph of a slain CRPF jawan whose genitals were mutilated. Over the last 50 days, the organisation has already claimed lives of 37 CRPF jawans.

Three days later, on Thursday, in an audio message that surfaced, the banned Maoist organisation made several shocking claims. They said that the Sukma attacks were allegedly carried out in response to state-backed sexual abuse of tribal women in Chhattisgarh. Newslaundry cannot vouch for the authenticity of the audio clip. However, Bastar range Deputy Inspector General of Police, P Sundarraj said, “we cannot confirm its authenticity but the language used in the audio and the way the person is talking it seems that it’s been released by the Naxalites.”

In the six-minute audio message, ‘Vikalp’, who claims to be a spokesperson for the Dand Karanya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC), a wing of CPI (M) Communist Party of India (Maoist), also denied the reports of mutilation, calling them lies spread by “corporate media houses.”

The message also claims that they do not view the security forces as their enemies but as an unfortunate part of the ‘exploitative state machinery’.

After the March 11 attack, security forces had started aggressive operations against the Maoists in the conflict zone. Vikalp claimed that the Sukma attack was a “continuation of March 11 attacks.” He also said, “Bhejji (March 11 attack) and the Chintagufa attacks should be seen as a response to hundreds of cases inhumane rapes, gang rapes and murder of tribal women by the police and security forces. This attack should be seen as a fight for the safety of tribal women and their respect.”

Vikalp insisted that Maoists do not disrespect the dead bodies of the police or security personnel. Instead, he claimed, it was the police and security forces who have been mutilating bodies of their own in an attempt to discredit the group. He went on to claim that it was security personnel who “take inappropriate pictures and videos of female [People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army-the armed wing of the CPI(M)] members killed in encounters and distribute them through mobile apps and via the internet.”

In the recent past, similar claims have been made by local activists and journalists on social media. One such case is of a young tribal woman Madkame Hidme – a resident of Gumpad village of Sukma. SRP Kalluri, Inspector General of Bastar range, had issued a statement claiming that Hidme was a Maoist and was killed by a joint team of District Reserve Guard (DRG) and the Special Task Force (STF) near Gumpad forest. Aam Aadmi Party leader and tribal activist Soni Sori had countered the claims of the police. According to her, Hidme was “picked up from her home, raped and killed before being branded as a Maoist.” “The police spread propaganda that there was an encounter and a Maoist was killed,” Sori had told the Hindu after the Hidme’s encounter in June 2016.

The National Human Rights’ Commission (NHRC) had left Chhattisgarh police exposed and red-faced in January 2017 with its report. The NHRC said that at least 16 tribal women were raped and assaulted by security forces in November 2015. Taking cognizance of the report, the NHRC had visited five villages of Bijapur district — Pegdapalli, Chinnagelur, Peddagelur, Gundam and Burgicheru and met the victims of sexual abuse.

However, the Bastar police have refuted the claims made in the DKSZC audio message. P Sundarraj, DIG told Newslaundry, “the allegations in the audio released by Naxals are their traditional allegations and has no proof to it. In past also they have levied allegations of sexual abuse by security forces which often turned out to be baseless.”

He further added that Naxals promote propaganda claiming that government forces sexually abuse tribal women. “They just want to justify their act of brutality by accusing forces of raping tribal girls. Our forces also have a large percentage of tribal boys who respect the tribal culture and always act with dignity,” Sundarraj said.

Meanwhile, in the audio message, the CPI (M) spokesperson countered the popular government narrative that they were anti-development. “Under the garb of providing relief to common people, roads, railway and mobile towers are being constructed to facilitate the loot of natural resources, to exploit people and to ensure easy transport of security forces. These attacks are being carried out by us to oppose this loot and to make sure these resources are used for the welfare of the common man,” said Vikalp.

A pamphlet supposedly issued by CPI (M) also appeals to the security forces “to not target the natives.” However, we cannot vouch for the authenticity of this document either.