'Naxals killed 700 tribals in 5 years'

Chattisgarh government has told the Supreme Court that it would not be possible to shift villagers from relief camps within a definite timeframe due to possible reprisals from Naxalites who killed 700 tribals in the past five years.

In an affidavit submitted through counsel Atul Jha, the state government however, said it was taking all steps to gradually shift the villagers back to their villages from the relief camps set up close to police stations in the worst Maoist-hit Dantewada and Bijapur districts.

A bench of justices B Sudershan Reddy and S S Nijjar, while taking on record the two affidavits filed by the state, asked the petitioner Nandini Sundar, a civil liberties activist, to file her response.

According to the state government, Naxalites were bent on exterminating all those opposing their ideology or those unwilling to join their outfits. The state's affidavit comes in the backdrop of the January 18 apex court's direction to wind up the relief camps as civil rights groups alleged they are used to shelter armed Salwa Judum (viglilante group) members and special police officers trained by the government to tackle Naxalites.

The government, however, said it has taken steps to vacate the educational institutions used by security personnel within a definite timeframe and budgetary allocations had been made for construction of adequate barracks for the personnel.

"Since 2005, the relief camps in Dantewada and Bijapur have been attacked 34 times. In 2010 alone, these relief camps have been attacked 9 times. In the last five years, more than 700 innocent tribals have been killed by Naxalites after being branded as sympathiser of Salwa Judum or as police informers. It is submitted that in the prevailing security scenario with the Naxalites determined to exterminate all those people opposed to them or unwilling to join their cadre, it would not be possible to force the remaining inmates of these camps to leave immediately," the affidavit said.

The government said relief camps have been set up as part of the constitutional obligation to provide safety to villagers who had left their villages due to fear and atrocities of Naxalites.