Some years ago, during the Bastar conflict, a senior police officer told me that tribals never had any existence, nor will they ever have. No status, no life, no identity. Tribals are to be crushed and killed like insects.
Recently, I received information that in the Karregutta forests, under the pretext of Maoists, a large number of tribal people were killed and brought down from the mountains. Their families are in great distress. They are hungry, thirsty, and fighting to retrieve the bodies, but the police administration is not handing them over.
In this situation, on May 12, 2025, I reached Bijapur District Hospital. Tribals from many villages were moving back and forth between the hospital and the Bijapur police station. I met with the villagers and started gathering information—what really happened on the Karregutta hills? Is what the police and the government are saying true? Tell us everything, only then can we help.
Many men, women, and children from several villages had come. Family members and villagers told me, “Sister, we’ve heard about the so-called encounter, but there was no such incident. It’s all fake. In reality, there was cross-firing between the CRPF’s CoBRA unit, DRG, and Telangana’s Greyhounds. These forces mistakenly fired at each other. Three policemen also died, and many were injured. These injuries were not caused by Maoist IEDs or explosives, but by mutual firing. This incident happened on May 7, 2025, around 7–8 AM.”
“We have come to claim the bodies. These are the bodies from that same day and date. The police surrounded and killed them—some were minors, some innocent tribals. Some were unarmed farmers, Sangham members. No one was a Maoist leader. There was no encounter on May 6–7.”
I asked the villagers how they knew the date was May 7. They said, “Some of our people are in the DRG. They called and informed us to come collect the bodies of our family members—they’ve been killed. We came on the 8th to get the bodies. We waited until the night of the 9th, hoping to take them, but the police didn’t hand them over. After two days without food or water, we had to return to our village on the 10th. We came again today, May 12, to claim the bodies. We don’t know if they’ll be given.”
I said, “Today, no matter what, we will take the bodies. We are all with you.” The families were extremely distressed. Time kept passing, and the police administration kept delaying. Why so much drama over handing over dead bodies? We couldn’t understand anything.
We all moved forward to take the bodies. Finally, the police were forced to start handing them over. As I approached the bodies, I saw that thousands of maggots were crawling on them. Every corpse was covered in insects. The dead tribal bodies were being devoured by worms. The officer’s cruel words were becoming reality before my eyes.
The question should not be whether the dead person was a Maoist or an innocent tribal. All those killed were human beings. And they were all tribals of Bastar. The dead bodies of tribals are left to rot so that the families can’t recognize them. This time, it took the police administration and the government six days to build the lie of a fake encounter.
If an Adivasi mother has two sons, the government gives a gun to one and makes him a soldier. The other fights to protect his land. If the one fighting for the government dies, he is wrapped in the national flag and given a state funeral. But if the one fighting to protect his land dies, his body is left covered in worms. — Soni Sori
7th May : 22 Maoists Killed in Karregutta Encounter https://www.deccanchronicle.com/southern-states/telangana/26-maoists-killed-in-massive-encounter-in-karregutta-1877440 According to official sources, a joint task force comprising personnel from the DRG, COBRA, CRPF, STF, Bastar Fighters and the Chhattisgarh armed forces launched a large-scale anti-Maoist operation over the past 15 days in the Karregutta region.
31 Maoists killed in 21-day action at Karreguttalu hills in Chhattisgarh https://indianexpress.com/article/india/anti-naxal-operations-31-maoists-killed-karregutta-hills-crpf-dg-10005371/ The Union Home Minister further lauded the bravery and precision of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the Special Task Force (STF), and the District Reserve Guard (DRG) for completing the 21-day-long anti-Naxal operation without any casualties among the security personnel.