Caught between two sickles:

1. Caught between two sickles: The story of women living in the red corridor Shwetika Kumar (shwetikakumar@gmail.com)

2. Naxalism: The genesis • 1967,Naxalbari, West Bengal • Violent uprising by a section of Communist Party of India (Marxist) • The rebellion spreads to regions including West Bengal, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and parts of Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. • May 1968 • All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries (AICCCR) is formed • May 1969 • AICCR splits into Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) and Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) • All these outfits converged on the idea of an “armed struggle”

4. Salwa Judum – An unchecked power • 2005,Bijapur, Chhattisgarh • Literally means “purification hunt” or “”peace march” • Started as a vigilante group or people’s resistance movement against the Naxals by the people of Chhattisgarh • State government adopts the organization to restore democratic rule in the Naxal affected • Spread to hundreds of villages in the districts of Chhattisgarh • Violent raids, rapes, human rights abuses, burning of homes, displacement of people, herding of villages and tribals into make shift camps • Held responsible for “reported” 537 murders, 99 rapes, 103 cases of arson and burning of 644 villages

5. Special Police Officers (SPO’s) • Special Police Officers popularly known as the Koya commandos • Tribal youth drawn from Salwa Judum camps and ex-naxalites employed by the State police of Chhattisgarh • Paid honorarium of Rs.3000 ($60) per month by the State (as of 2011) • Bal Sangam • Group of child soldiers appointed by the Salwa Judum • Over 12,000 minors appointed in 2008 • The youngest minors are aged 6 years

6. Internal Displacements • 23 camps across Chhattisgarh • 50,000 displaced villagers • from 600 villages • 65,000 villagers fled to • Maharashtra • 30,000 – 50,000 settled in • Andhra Pradesh

7. “Neither the government nor the Naxals have left any room for neutrality”

8. Violence against women • Violence of Salwa Judum has serious repercussions on women • Many young girls working as SPO’s end up as victims of rape by fellow male colleagues • Women in Salwa Judum camps reduced to selling their bodies for as low as Rs.30 (60 cents) • Many victims of rape, sexual abuses put in police custody and labeled as “naxalite” or murdered • With no security in the Judum camps the women also suffer at the hands of Naxalites who attack these camps from time to time • The police refuse to accept complaints and the women are threatened with “severe consequences” if they try to speak up

9. The forgotten Soni Soris of India Sodi Sambo • Background: • 28 year old tribal woman from Gompad village in Dantewada • district of Chhattisgarh • Shot in the leg by security forces on Oct 1st 2009 in front of her • children aged 3 and 5 • Missing since January 2010 after police detained her for questioning • Her Crime: • Witness to a massacre in her village by security forces and SPO’s

10. NAME:MadviSarita AGE: 25-30 DISTRICT: Dantewada ACCUSES: Salwa Judum, Naga battalion, paramilitary forces NAME: Sodi AGE: A minor when raped DISTRICT: Dantewada ACCUSES: Salwa Judum SPOs NAME: Gantal AGE: Possibly between 18-20 years old DISTRICT: Bijapur ACCUSES: Salwa Judum SPOs of raping and killing his sister, and killing his father

11. Humanitarian Catastrophe!