A fact-finding team of a civil rights group has claimed that adivasi communities in the tribal belt of Bastar in Chhattisgarh are facing brutal repression and harassment by security forces and accused the Centre of launching a crackdown on them on the pretext of fighting Maoists.

The rights group also highlighted that security forces have illegally set up a large number of camps by forcibly grabbing the land of tribals in the Maoist belt in the name of “area domination”.

The team comprising anthropologist Nandini Sundar and Bela Bhatia, human rights lawyer and activists, on Monday released a report — Security and Insecurity, Bastar Division — at the Press Club of India here.

“Bastar has been turned into one of the most militarised regions in the country with one security person to every nine civilians. Tribals have been protesting against the proliferation of security camps on their land over the past few years but the Centre has paid no attention,” said Bhatia.

“The Centre and the state government have even forcibly taken their land to build roads to facilitate mining operations by private parties,” she said. They found out that most of the camps were set up on the adivasis’ private land or community property in gross violation of the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act and the Scheduled Tribes Act.

“The team found rampant human rights violations by security forces in the vicinity of camps. They are not allowed to move freely and even the weekly market, which is the lifeline for the communities, and the regular purchases are subject to monitoring
and under police control,” the report said.