FACAM Condemns Extra-Judicial Killing of unarmed Maoists and Hostage-Taking of Adivasis in Bijapur

The Masses received this statement from the Forum Against Corporatization and Militarization (FACAM) regarding the extrajudicial murder of Indian Maoists and use of indigenous Adivasis as hostages on Wednesday, December 3, in the Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh state. The statement discusses these crimes of the Indian Old State as part of the broader process of corporatization and militarization of society, and demands that all democratic rights are upheld. We republish this statement in service of Proletarian Internationalism to the comrades in India struggling for democratic rights and dignity for the oppressed masses.

Forum Against Corporatization and Militarization (FACAM) Condemns Extra-Judicial Killing of unarmed Maoists and Hostage-Taking of Adivasis in Bijapur

07/12/2025

Forum Against Corporatization and Militarization (FACAM) is issuing this urgent statement to condemn in the strongest terms the fake encounter and grave violations of Constitutional and international humanitarian law committed by the joint paramilitary forces of the Indian state in Bijapur district, Chhattisgarh. On 3rd December 2025, the various paramilitary forces of the Indian state, including the District Reserve Guard (DRG) descended upon a village and laid ambush upon the Maoists where both sides suffered casualties. Based on ground reports and the direct testimonies of Adivasi villagers from the affected site, disseminated to the media, a horrifying account of state violence and deceit has emerged. This account starkly contradicts the official narrative of a “gunfight” between the District Reserve Guard (DRG) and alleged members of the CPI (Maoist).

The facts, as narrated by the civilian victims, point to the following egregious violations:

1. Extra-Judicial Execution and Violation of International Humanitarian Law: Testimonies indicate that the security forces captured at least one alleged Maoist cadre, a woman, alive and subsequently killed her while she was unarmed and in their custody. If verified, this constitutes a summary execution and a gross violation of the fundamental principles of International Humanitarian Law. India is bound by Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions and its customary law principles, which govern Non-International Armed Conflicts (NIAC). These protocols explicitly prohibit violence to life and person, including murder of all kinds, against persons hors de combat – those who have surrendered or are incapacitated. The principle of proportionality and distinction, which mandates that force must be directed only at combatants and must be proportional to the military objective, was utterly disregarded. The actions, as described, amount to a war crime under accepted international legal standards.
2. Use of Civilians as Human Shields and Hostage-Taking: In an act of profound cruelty and illegality, the paramilitary forces allegedly rounded up the entire village of unarmed Adivasi peasants, herded them into the centre of the settlement under the pretext of “protection,” and used their presence as a shield and strategic asset during their armed operation. This deliberate endangerment of civilian lives, effectively holding them hostage in a conflict zone, is an abhorrent violation of international humanitarian law which strictly prohibits using the presence of civilians to render certain points or areas immune from military operations. It is also a severe infringement of the citizens’ fundamental rights to life, liberty, and security under Articles 14 and 21 of the Indian Constitution.
3. Assault on Democratic Rights and Due Process: The incident reflects a persistent and brutal pattern where the Indian state substitutes the rule of law with brute force. Every individual, including those accused of being Maoists, is guaranteed the Constitutional right to a fair hearing and trial in a court of law. By resorting to extra-judicial killings, the state is not only violating its own constitutional compact but also eviscerating the pretenses of the very democratic principles it claims to uphold. The conflict in Central India is a complex political movement rooted in decades of socio-economic neglect, alienation, and state violence against Adivasi peasants. It cannot be resolved through battlefield executions that bypass the judicial process entirely.
4. Military Assault on a Civilian Space: The villagers have unequivocally stated that they witnessed no attack by Maoist forces prior to the paramilitary action. Instead, armed state forces descended upon a village “chalk-full of civilians,” dragged people from their homes, and turned their hearths and homes into a theatre of war. This transformation of civilian spaces into combat zones, with utter disregard for the safety and rights of the inhabitants, marks an alarming escalation in the militarization of everyday life in Chhattisgarh, all in the service of corporate loot of natural resources by foreign and big Indian corporates.

The official statements from the authorities (as referenced in media reports) presents a sanitized version of events that ignores these grave allegations from the ground. At the same time, the Indian state is continuously using illegal methods to stop people’s attempts at exposing the realities of its narratives and its purported operations. As we have learned, the Indian state detained students from Osmania University and University of Hyderabad who were on a fact-finding mission behind the extra-judicial killing of Madvi Hidma, the commander of the PLGA’s Battalion 1 and a Central Committee member of the CPI (Maoist). By refusing to allow independent inquiry into its draconian operations, it is clear that the state will leave no stone unturned in wiping out all forms of people’s resistance to corporatization and displacement. As FACAM has previously documented in its comprehensive joint report to the United Nations’ International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 2024, in the name of its various Operations such as Greenhunt, SAMADHAN-Prahar, Clean and Kagaar, the state continues to carry out a butchering of civilians for the sake of imperialist mining corporations, all under the convenient pretext of combatting Maoism. To paraphrase the words of the Uruguayan journalist Eduardo Galeano, Central India too is the region of open veins. Everything from the first day the British colonialists rode upon their horses into the forests, until our times, has always been transmuted into European–or later–United States– capital, and as such has accumulated on distant centers of power. Everything: the soil, its fruits, its mineral-rich depths, the people and their capacity to work and to consume, natural resources and human resources. All of it, served up as sacrifice at the altar of so-called “development.” In light of these developments, we demand:

1. An immediate, independent, and time-bound judicial inquiry headed by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court of India to investigate the events of 3rd December 2025 in Bijapur.
2. The suspension of all security personnel involved in the operation pending the judicial inquiry.
3. A forensic examination of the encounter site and the bodies of the deceased, with the involvement of independent pathologists and representatives from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
4. That the Government of India upholds its obligations under International Humanitarian Law and its own Constitution, ensuring that all operations against armed groups adhere strictly to the principles of distinction, proportionality, and necessity.
5. That the state initiate a genuine political and socio-economic dialogue to address the root causes of the conflict, rather than perpetuating a cycle of violence that primarily victimizes its own people.

Forum Against Corporatization and Militarization (FACAM) stands in solidarity with the Adivasi peasants of Bijapur and will continue to monitor the situation closely and pursue all democratic avenues to ensure accountability for these alleged atrocities and justice for the victims, despite the continuous attempts by the Indian state to suppress our activities through intimidation tactics and extra-judicial detentions.