Chhattisgarh village caught in a vortex of violence as few Naxals allegedly thrashed around 35 villagers for refusing to attend a meeting called by them in Dantewada district.
Dantewada Superintendent of Police Abhishek Pallava confirmed that some people in Phulpad village under Kuakonda police station limits had refused to attend the meeting called by Naxals on Thursday. Following that, the Naxals tied the villagers to the tree and trashed them leaving 10 out of the 35 severely injured.
Pallava said 16 of those beaten up had been admitted to the Kuakonda community health centre, while another villager with severe injuries was admitted to Dantewada district hospital. “Rest of the villagers who sustained injuries in the Naxal beating refused treatment as they feared that Maoists would punish them for seeking police help,” the SP said.
Nine victims out of the 35 attacked came forward to file complaints against the assailants on the basis of which the police has launched a search operation.
The police admitted that this kind of mass mauling was the first in the area and owed it to the recent Naxalite arrests, which might have frustrated the Maoists.
In the 4 years of Modi government, the war against Naxalism has yielded great results for the security forces. According to the official statistics published by the Ministry of Home Affairs, there has been a steady decline in Maoist violence ever since Narendra Modi came to power at the Center. The focus has been on utilizing technology for surveillance and assistance in conducting operations combined with strategic attempts at choking the funding mechanism of Naxalites.
In April 2018, the security forces conducted one of its most successful operations against the Naxalites. Over 35 terrorists were slaughtered during the operations. It is regarded as one of the most terrible blows the Naxals have suffered in quite a while. Earlier in the month, 44 districts were removed from the list of districts affected by Left-Wing extremism, leaving the Naxal inflicted area confined to merely 58 districts.
With the war against Naxalism being on its last legs due to the efforts of the current ruling disposition and the frustration mounting amongst the Maoist thereafter might be considered the sole reason for this sudden ambush.
