The bones of an unending trial

Activist Kopa Kunjam and advocate Alban Toppo from the

Human Rights Law Network were called on by the Bairamgargh pol­ice on December 10 — coincidentally, the World Human Rights Day — for an ‘interrogation.’ They ended up being kept in the police station overnight. By dawn, a seve­rely-beaten Alban Toppo was released while Kopa Kunjam was booked for the murder of a man whose life he had tried to save.

Kopa Kunjam too had been mercilessly bea­ten and ‘requested’ to leave the Gandhian NGO Vanvasi Chetna Ashram that has worked in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada and Bijapur distri­cts for more than 17 years on healthcare, education and watershed development. Rece­ntly, the VCA has been active in exposing state brutalities and human rights violations also in Bastar — again, downstate. As per a Supreme Court ruling, they have also undertaken the rehabi­litation of villagers who had been displaced by the Salwa Judum-Maoist civil war.

Kopa Kunjam has worked for the Vanvasi Chetna Ashram for over 13 years and has been involved in the ‘right to food’ and the anti-­liquor campaigns. He has helped organise over 750 rural health workers called Mitanins who form the backbone of the rural healthcare infrastructure of Bastar.

Since the inception of the Salwa Judum, Kopa Kunjam has worked for the basic rights of the adivasis. He has collected evidence and testimonies about the Singaram encounter that left 15 tribals dead on January 8, 2009, and also on the Matwada Salwa Judum camp case, where three tribals were killed right in front of the police station on June 18, 2008. At Matwada, the police claimed the tribals had been killed by Maoists and their bodies left in front of the police station. Witnesses and family members claimed they were murdered in cold blood by the police themselves.

Kopa Kujam was instrumental in motivating the widows of the deceased to lodge complaints in the respective police stations. None of the complaints were lodged as FIRs.

Kopa Kunjam was also instrumental in the rehabilitation of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) of the villages of Lingagiri and Basa­guda. He acted as a human shield volunteer for the returning villagers who were at risk from the warring parties — the Salwa Judum and the Maoists. He helped act as the civil administration when there was none — he’d often take the complaints of the villagers to the respective departments — we need

ration, we need bus services, we need our handpump repaired. Both Basaguda and Lingagiri are on the frontlines. At one end, there’s a police camp, on another, the alleged ‘liberated zone.’ There hasn’t been a single casualty amongst the villagers of Basaguda and Lingagri who are relatively free of violence.

But with the initiation of Operation ‘Tri­bal’ Hunt, the violence augments elsewhere and Kopa Kunjam was again involved in bringing the victims into the legal and constitutional fold. The Vanvasi Chetna Ashram has already filed more than 600 complaints of arson, theft, rape and murder. The Supreme Court has acce­pted the Writ Petition of the recent victims of violence from the villages of Goompad and Gachanpalli and have issued a notice to the Chhattisgarh government. Alban Toppo was also involved in providing legal help to the adivasis of Bastar.

“How many complaints have we lodged, how many times we go to court and how many times we go to burnt villages and what happens? Nothing! Nothing ever happens,” said Kopa Kunjam, during a visit to a village that had been attacked in April of 2009.

“No one is above the law.” This is what DGP Vishwa Ranjan had to say, regarding the arrest of Kopa Kunjam on Human Rights Day.

Kopa Kunjam was arrested for the murder of Punem Honga of Hirapur who had been abducted by the Maoists on June 2, and subsequently killed. Kopa Kunjam was

nowhere near the site of the abduction but was with another man Nagesh Jadi of

Hirapur who was abducted on the same day as he was travelling with Kopa Kunjam.

While Nagesh Jadi was eventually

released unharmed, Punem Honga who had been involved with the Salwa Judum, was killed. Kopa Kunjam himself was almost killed by the Salwa Judum at that time as they thought he was involved in the abduction. In fact, Kopa Kunjam was the first to lodge a complaint with the police about the abduction and along with the director of the NGO, Himanshu Kumar, had gone into the jungle to make his own inquiries into the abductions of the two men. Yet the frantic inquiries led them nowhere.

As they were in the jungle, certain SPOs and members of the Salwa Judum annou­nced that they would be killed if the Maoists failed to release the two men. Unknowingly, both members of the VCA were to be punished for the crimes committed by the Maoists.

However, the police of the adjoining camp had warned them about the intentions of the Salwa Judum and both Kopa Kunjam and Himanshu Kumar managed to escape into Andhra Pradesh, while other VCA volunteers were beaten. Kopa would however have another confrontation with the police.

On August 3, while returning to his home at Aalnar, he was questioned and beaten by a contingent of cops on a combing operation. His mother who rushed out to protect him, was also manhandled. “The arrest and harassment of the only people working for peace in the area is a clear message from the state that it doesn’t want peace,” says Himanshu Kumar, whose own life is now said to be in danger.

Meanwhile, the Salwa Judum had also taken out a rally on Human Rights Day against the Vanvasi Chetna Ashram, chanting slogans like ‘Himanshu ko maro’, ‘Himanshu bhagao, Bastar bachao’, ‘VCA ke karyakarta bhagao, Dantewada Bachao’ and ‘maro salon ko.’

On the same day, six victims of gangrape were meant to depose before a judge at Dantewada district court, where Salwa Judum leaders and SPOs stand accused. The victims were not able to make it to the court. The Salwa Judum also held a press conference where they had called for the Vanvasi Chetna Ashram to be shut down, alleging they are Maoist sympathisers.

“What Maoist sympathiser? I’m a tribal sympathiser and sympathiser is a weak

expression!” responded Himanshu Kumar, while busy trying to organise a padyatra for December 14. At the same time, a group of 39 activists who were meant to join him on the padyatra were repeatedly prevented from proceeding towards Dantewada by the police at Kanker district. At first, they were told there was a problem with the documents of their private vehicles. When the activists got onto buses, the buses were stopped. They were eventually detained, allegedly for their own safety by the police and only released once they decided to return to Raipur.

Meanwhile, the Vanvasi Chetna Ashram is organising a public hearing on January 6 next year in Dantewada, where Union home minister P Chidambaram is expected to visit.

— imissyahoo@gmail.com