'Firing on adivasis at Khandwa unprovoked'

The recent police firing on adivasis in Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh, in which two tribals were killed and several injured, was unprovoked, a spokesperson of the People's Union for Civil Liberties said.

The PUCL, which had sent a four-member fact-finding team to inquire into the allegations of police excesses on Adivasi Mukti Sangathan activists at Sendhwa village in Khandwa district on August 27, said in its report that the official version justifying the police firing is not believable.

Prima facie, the police and forest officials are guilty of using excessive force by resorting to police firing without order of a magistrate which is a condition for police firing, the report stated.

Divisional Forest Officer, Burhanpur, S S Bajaj and Sub-Division Officer, Forest, Nepanagar, Madhukar Chaturvedi had told the fact-finding team that villagers had encroached upon forest land, planted crops, and fenced plots after cutting down trees. The report, which was released at a press conference on Wednesday, said the firing occurred due to other reasons.

The team was told that adivasis gathered when forest officials went to the spot to clear the encroachments and the officials had to fire in self defence when the crowd became menacing.

According to the officials, about 127 rounds were fired in the air and the firing continued for about 15 minutes. The adivasis still did not disperse and even took on their team, injuring 42, the officials had claimed.

The PUCL report also mentioned allegations of custodial death of a tribal in Kargone district and the rape of his wife and some other adivasi women.

The report said the team was unable to meet the victim's wife as she, alongwith other victims, had taken refuge in the forests. Quoting the FIR lodged with the police, it said the children of some adivasi women who were raped, were also murdered before them.

The report said the AMS has become a force to reckon with, posing a threat to vested interests in the village who had formed an Adivasi Sudhar Shanti Sena to counter the AMS. The rivalry between the groups had led to the tribal being accused of extortion, being arrested, and dying in custody, the report said.