Five Naxals were arrested and weapons recovered from them after a brief exchange of fire in Chhattisgarh's Balrampur district on Sunday. (Press Trust of India)
The Centre has claimed that its approach of dealing with Maoism, with increased deployment of security forces and implementation of development projects in remote regions, is paying off. The rising number of surrenders by Maoists is pushed as proof of this. But villagers in the affected areas say they are caught in the crossfire, both literally and figuratively, between the security forces and the Maoists.
In the Bijapur region of Chhattisgarh for instance, a 23-year-old man claims he was given electric shocks by the security forces. He had been picked up after a neighbour told the forces that he had given food and other support to Maoist guerrillas. The young man claims he was kept in lock-up for two weeks, and that the security personnel tried to convince him to surrender as a Maoist.
"I was taken to the police station and there they asked me to surrender as a Naxal, promising me money and a house," says the young man. "When I refused, they hung me upside down beat me up for two days and let me go only when I paid them 7,000 rupees," he adds.
In villages like Kosaguda and Terram, there is neither road connectivity nor basic amenities. And in such a remote area, refusing to provide Maoist guerrillas with food or shelter is just not an option for the villagers. "The Naxals have guns. If we do not give them food, they may harm us," a villager told NDTV.
But it is not just from the Maoists, whose presence is dwindling in the area, that they find trouble. They claim that the security forces, who are setting up an increasing number of camps, harass them.
"The jawans beat us, harass our women and interrogate children. When they come for search operations, they take away our chicken, lambs, eggs and even money," says Ramarao Sori, a resident of the area.
Their problems however seem to be falling through cracks in the system for one reason or the other, with police officials claiming that they have received no formal complaints of trouble with the security personnel.