Congress demands probe into tribal man's killing in MP anti-Naxal operation

BHOPAL: The Congress on Monday targeted the Madhya Pradesh government over the killing of a tribal man in an anti-naxal operation on March 9 and demanded a high-level probe.

The matter was raised by ex-minister and fourth-time Dindori MLA Omkar Singh Markam just after the question hour ended during the ongoing budget session.

“Tribals are not safe in the state, a Baiga tribe man has been killed, tribals are being defamed and branded as Maoists,” Markam said while raising the issue for a detailed discussion on the issue.

Responding to Markam and other Congress MLAs' demand for discussion on the issue, the Assembly Speaker Narendra Singh Tomar said, “A calling attention motion has already been made on the issue, information has been sought on it from the government. You all will be given the opportunity to speak on it at the appropriate time, kindly be seated.”

The Speaker’s call, however, failed to dissuade the Congress members from trouping into the well of the House and indulging in slogan shouting there. The Congress MLAs, most of whom are tribals, including Omkar Singh Markam, Hiralal Alawa, Dr Vikrant Bhuria, Abhijeet Shah and Sena Patel, however, did not return to their seats, but instead walked out from the House, after the Speaker did not entertain their sustained demands.

The MLAs later staged a protest outside the House within the Vidhan Sabha premises.

“Tribals, be it a common man or else a lawmaker or a minister, aren’t safe in this state. In Mandla, the Baiga tribal man was first killed and shown to be a Maoist, later it was said that he was accompanying the Maoists. Entire matter needs to be thoroughly investigated. Our voice wasn’t heard in the Vidhan Sabha over the issue, so we protested outside also. Our lone demand is that FIR be registered for the tribal man’s killing against the Mandla district collector and SP, as well as those police personnel who shot that tribal dead on March 9,” first-time MLA from Timarni-ST seat Abhijeet Shah said.

Importantly, a 38-year-old Baiga tribal (Baiga is among the three particularly vulnerable tribal vulnerable groups in MP), Hiran Singh Partha, was gunned down in an encounter between armed Maoist cadres and the MP police’s anti-Maoist Hawk Force in the dense forests forming the core area of Kanha National Park (KNP) in Mandla district on March 9.

While the IG of Balaghat Zone Sanjay Kumar says that Hiran was accompanying the 18-20 Maoists related to the outlaw group’s Kawardha-Bhoramdeo division who had come there to collect ration from their sympathizers, the slain Baiga tribal’s wife Bisru Bai said, “I don't know how my husband died. The local police have told me that he was caught in the middle of the gun firing between the Maoists and the police personnel. The SP Sahib has promised to get one of our children a job. I want a job for one of my children and Rs 50 lakh to spend the rest of our life respectfully."

A senior state police officer in Bhopal, meanwhile said, “His (Hiran’s) presence with the Maoists is a matter of investigation. Often the Maoists move with local tribals. Though the investigation is still underway about his association with the Maoists, it’s not new for the Maoists to actively use local tribals as human shields or ground workforce to collect their ration from sympathizers."

Besides this issues, there is growing unease over the arrest of two men – Ashok Kumar Valko and Santosh Kumar Dhurve (both casual labourers of the forest department at the KNP). The two residents, who worked as watchers in the jungles of KNP, have been booked under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. It was the duo’s arrest on March 8 that led the anti-Maoists establishment of MP police to the 18-20 KB division Maoists on March 9.

While the chief of the local unit of MP Van Karamchari Sangh, Balsingh Thakur has claimed that the duo has been falsely implicated under the stringent law and added that the office bearers of the forest workers union will meet the SP Mandla in the matter soon, informed police sources engaged in anti-Maoists operation said they’ve ample evidence about the duo being linked to the outlaws.

“One of the two arrested men was even warned in the past for his regular connection with the Maoists, but he continued to work with them, particularly for arranging ration to the outlaws,” a senior police official told this newspaper.