Chhattisgarh criticised for displacing villagers

By Bappa Majumdar

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Security forces and state-backed militias fighting Maoist rebels in Chhattisgarh have displaced thousands of people since 2005, U.S.-based group Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday.

The groups and security forces have raped villagers and burned down homes of those who did not join the militia against Maoists, the group said in a report, urging India to end support for the movement.

In Chhattisgarh, state authorities have since 2005 funded and armed an anti-Maoist movement made up of poor tribal people, including children, known as the Salwa Judum or Campaign for Peace.

The Indian government says the Salwa Judum is a spontaneous self-defence movement of villagers. Human Rights Watch says the militia in Chhattisgarh is effectively state-run.

"The Chhattisgarh government denies supporting Salwa Judum, but dozens of eyewitnesses have described police participating in violent Salwa Judum raids on villages, killing, looting and burning their hamlets," said Jo Becker, advocacy director at HRW.

The Maoists have also retaliated by bombing villages and abducted and executed Salwa Judum sympathisers, HRW says in its report, "Being Neutral Is Our Biggest Crime."

Around 1,100 people have been killed in clashes between security forces and Maoists in Chhattisgarh since 2004, according to state government.

The Maoist movement began four decades ago in the eastern state of West Bengal, and claims to fight for the rights of poor farmers and landless labourers.