On February 2, 2001, a large contingent of police at the Police Outpost at Tapkara in Ranchi district of Jharkhand, opened fire from rifles and stenguns for a full hour on a 4-5000 strong crowd of mostly Munda adivasis. Nine local people have died so far from the firing and at least 12 other Munda persons were seriously injured. Several injuries have not been officially reported while there are a few persons who seem to be missing. This case stands as a testimonial to the President’s recent observation that the ‘very existence’ of adivasis is being threatened today.

The police have claimed that they had to resort to the firing 136 rounds because the crowd had attacked them with stones and bricks. As evidence they have pointed to the ransacked outpost, four burnt police jeeps, one dead policeman and several injured policemen, including the daroga of Tapkara outpost (OP).

On the contrary, the assembled villagers have claimed, both in personal interviews and in their FIRs, that it was an entirely peaceful crowd which was fired upon savagely and relentlessly for almost an hour without any provocation. Nor were they given any prior warning.

The incident is particularly disturbing and needs serious attention of the responsible authorities as well as people\'s organizations and human rights groups. Apart from the issue of so many deaths, that too of adivasis in the hands of the state, this incident is especially serious because it is the first time in independent India that the people of the area, who have led a 26-years long, peaceful and democratic struggle against the Koel-Karo Hydro-Electric Power Project, have been fired upon by the police. As the report reveals below, the police aggression seems tied to the present Indian state\'s and dominant society\'s increasing alienation and dictatorial attitude towards adivasi and marginal peoples\' struggles.

A Brief Background to the Incidents

The Tapkara outpost is under the Torpa thana in Ranchi district. Most villages under the Torpa thana (including the Tapkara OP) come under the Koel-Karo Hydro-Electric Power Project. The project plans to build two dams in Basia (Gumla district) and Lohajimi village (under Tapkara OP, Ranchi district). Officially the project threatens to completely submerge or partially affect 115 villages displacing 4063 families in Ranchi, Gumla and West Singbhhum districts. According to the Koel-Karo Jan Sangathan (KKJS), an organization consisting of only and all the local villagers of the submergence area, the number of affected villages is 256 and the number of threatened families is obviously very high. The project was planned in 1955 and needs to acquire 55000 hectares of land in order to produce 710 MW of electricity. It has been estimated that a total of 150,000 to 200,000 people face displacement as a result of this dam. The villagers were kept in the dark for a long time about the project, but soon after work started they protested in 1975 leading to the formation of the KKJS. Through their effort the facts of the project became actually public and the Supreme Court, in 1985, finally directed the National Hydro-Power Corporation (NHPC), the enterprise in charge of the project, to complete rehabilitation work before the acquiring of land or the building of the dam. It was also in 1985, that villagers, led by the women, forced NHPC employees, police and paramilitary forces to leave Lohajimi village. Based on the Supreme Court decision and the remarkably united response of the villagers in not allowing any land acquisition, the adivasis of this area had effectively stopped the Koel-Karo Project, thus providing great hope and inspiration to various other peoples and social justice movements including the Narmada movement.


The People\'s Gate

In 1985, the villagers had erected a \'gate\' at Derang village on the kuccha road connecting Tapkara to Lohajimi. It is about 7 km. from Tapkara. The road is neither a government one nor is it built on government land. It was built on the villagers\' own lands. The gate is a rudimentary one: a sal pole slung across two sal support-frames. This gate has always functioned not so much to restrict the entry of outsiders into the area but rather to force outside vehicles to stop or slow down thus giving people an opportunity to find out who the outsiders were, the purpose of their visit and their destination. Given that villagers are never informed about projects and plans involving the use and exploitation of their lands, through this \'gate\' they have found a small and respectful solution to this problem of not knowing the intentions of outsiders entering their area. The intention and functioning of the gate has been completely democratic even though state and corporate forces entering the area rarely feel the need to inform and thus respect the rights of the villagers. Researchers who have visited and stayed in these villages are emphatic about the fact that the gate has never stopped outsiders, even the police or the NHPC, from entering the area. In fact, in most cases they are not even asked any questions. Yet, the gate has represented the villagers\' demand for information, respect and democracy, where all three things are hardly forthcoming. It was this gate that the police inexplicably broke down on February 1 which led to the people gathering and demanding justice in Tapkara on February 2.

The New Jharkhand State

Jharkhand became a state on Novemeber 15, 2000 with the BJP forming the first government. Although the Chief Minister is an adivasi we must remember that most of the ministers are not so. Almost immediately after coming to power, the Jharkhand government has started moving on several fronts to smoothen the process of the entry of global and national corporate capital especially in the domain of mining, Jharkhand being obviously the richest state in India in terms of minerals. On November 28, not even a fortnight after the birth of the state, The Chief Minister declared his government\'s intention of reinitiating the Koel-Karo Project and the process of acquiring of land for it. Meanwhile, the ruling BJP-dominated NDA government in New Delhi has declared its intention of amending the fifth schedule, which provides protection to tribal lands from private, corporate and other interests. The Chotanagpur and Santal Parganas Tenancy Acts will be obvious victims of such amendments. These Acts stand as the concrete achievements of more than a hundred years of adivasi and low-caste struggles in Munda and Santal areas of the Jharkhand region. The Chotanagpur Tenancy (CNT) Act was in fact the direct result of the famous Birsa Ulgulan. The area where Koel-Karo project\'s Lohajimi dam is coming up was the most active area of Birsa Munda\'s uprising. It is because of the concrete achievement of the Birsa movement -- the CNT Act -- that the Koel-Karo movement has been able to resist the massive displacement and destruction represented by the Koel-Karo project. It is this context of a renewed and organized onslaught on adivasis by the State and capital investments under the BJP regime in New Delhi and Ranchi, which we need to bear in mind when trying to understand the Tapkara killings. A second thing that needs to be kept in mind about the new Jharkhand state is the heavy presence of armed naxal groups in most districts of the state and the BJP government\'s predictable military response to it. The MCC and PWG are significantly active and present especially in those parts of the state where adivasi lands have been historically lost to landlords, thikedars and traders. The BJP government has gone for a military solution to this \'threat.\' They are increasingly militarizing the state, giving more funds and power to the police and intensifying the nation-wide frenzy about \'terrorists\' so much so that all other questions of injustice and exploitation, like that connected to globalization and displacement, are being swept out of sight. In the Karo dam or Tapkara/Torpa thana area, however, the presence of MCC/PWG is negligible. In fact, the villagers in the project affected area are decided on not letting these groups operate from their villages. Yet, it was purportedly in order to \'look\' for MCC activists -- \'long-range patrolling\' in police parlance -- that the police started entering the Derang-Lohajimi area towards the end of last year. Also, in October 2000, the Tapkara OP built two concrete circular bunkers with about 20 small rectangular openings for the purpose of hidden firing. These played a significant role in the killings of February 2.

Breaking the People\'s Gate: How the Conflict Began

On December 22, 2000, the Tapkara police OC, R.N. Singh, with several constables, entered Lohajimi village, crossing the Derang gate. The police asked a few people about whether they have seen any MCC activists in the area. The villagers replied that they did not know how to tell if a person is from the MCC. The police told them that the MCC activists have guns with them. To this the villagers told the police that other than the police they have not seen anyone with guns in the area. The police returned back to the Tapkara outpost.

This O.C. is a relatively new one and we have received complaints before this incident about him being unnecessarily aggressive as well as forcefully taking away, for his own use, logs and wood-planks which villagers bring to sell in the Tapkara weekly market.

On February 1, the O.C.s of Tapkara OP and Rania thana (Akshay Kumar), also in Ranchi district and consisting of mostly Koel-Karo Project affected villages, together with approximately 20-25 armed policemen in two police vehicles, went from Tapkara and entered the area, again with the alleged purpose of \'long-range patrolling\' against MCC activists. They drove around the Derang gate, using the field next to the road which is how all motor vehicles cross the barrier, and went all the way to Lohajimi. There they parked the vehicles, walked across the pool over the Karo river and went into the forests and towards the hill-village of Jiling Sereng. They stayed for more than an hour and seem to have cut down trees for the purpose of fuelwood at the OP. On the way back they were spotted near the Derang gate by an ex-military man, Amrit Guria, of Gutuhatu village, who was returning from the Derang village-forest with fuel-wood himself. Amrit Guria witnessed the Tapkara O.C. ordering his men to get down and break the \'gate.\' The sal pole was broken and loaded onto the police vehicles. By this time, Amrit, having dropped his load of fuel-wood, ran and reached the place and asked the police officers, -- \"Saab, why did you break this gate? You know that it\'s been put there collectively. While going you had passed it fine, why did you have to break it now? You should have asked us before breaking it! (Aap to jante hai yeh gate samuhik roop-se lagaya gaya hai. Jaane samay aap chale gaye, abhi kyun tore isko? Humlogo-se punchhna chahiye tha tornese pahele!\")\"

The Tapkara O.C. told him, \"Tum kya yahan-ka Bade Laat ho kya? Tumhare ichha-se may chalunga kya? Hey, are you the Bade-Laat or what? Should I work as you wish?\"

--\"I may not be the Bade-laat for you Saab, but in our villages we are laat-sahabs.\"

The O.C. now started cursing Amrit Guria and ordered the constables to beat him up. Except for a couple of adivasi constables who refused to do this, the other policemen, all from north Bihar, beat Amrit with their rifle-butts. Amrit was hit all over and especially severely in the head. He fell down. By this time another ex-military man, Lorentus Guria of Derang, was returning home and seeing the beating ran to Amrit\'s rescue. He was also beaten on the shoulder, neck and lower back. Meanwhile, the O.C. ordered his men back to the vehicles and the police team drove back to the OP. All this happened around 3:30 or 4:00 in the afternoon.

[We will narrate the rest of the incident in the words of a KKJS office-holder. His narrative was extensively checked against those of numerous other villagers. The narratives were remarkably consistent quite unlike those of the police and the Press.]

The Killings of February 2 \"Word of this incident spread quickly. A meeting was soon held among representatives of various villages. This gate has been around from 1984-85. Till today, Commissioner-saab, police force and various other people have come here without needing to break the gate. Why they broke it today, we wanted to go and find out at the thana OP. I told them to wait till next day because it had gotten dark then and it would not have been safe to go and talk to the police in the dark. They may just call us thieves, dacoits or goondas and open fire. It was decided then that we will all assemble in front of the thana near the shahid chowk between eight and eight-thirty the next day.

People had started assembling already at eight in Tapkara. By the time I reached another one and a half hours had passed. The women sat in front. There were around 4,000 people, completely unarmed. We decided that we would first ask at the station for an explanation. If we were not satisfied with their reply we would write our demands down and submit it. They said, \"There is no need for any discussion here.\" When refused we thought, \"Okay, we will give a report and submit it to an officer higher than the daroga. We asked them to ask their superior officer to come and meet us.\" Accordingly, we wrote a memorandum demanding four things. Firstly, we demanded, that the O.C.s of Tapkara and Rania thanas should be immediately dismissed. Secondly, Amrit Guria should receive compensation for Rs.50,000 for his injuries and the disrespect shown by the police. Thirdly, since this is an adivasi area, Tapkara OP and Rania thana should have staff as well as O.C.s who understand the local cultures and can speak Mundari and thus only adivasis should be appointed here. Fourthly, the gate should be rebuilt and reinstated by the police themselves with proper honour and respect. This is the memorandum that we prepared.

When we finished preparing the memorandum, D.S.P.-saab, Khunti, (F.K.N. Kujur), had not arrived yet. We waited and moment he came along with, I think, the new S.D.O. or may be some other officer, I am not sure, we gave him the paper. He said that he cannot do anything because he did not have the power to take decisions to dismiss the darogas (OCs). The S.D.O. said that he will send our memorandum through. The D.S.P. also said that he will set the procedure moving and he will sign and accept our memorandum. I am not sure whether he was the S.D.O. We then turned to the crowd which had grown to about 4,000-5,000 people by now. We told them what the D.S.P. had told us. But the people said that, \"No, they broke that gate and beat up a villager. That gate has been there from 1984-5, so if they can have the power to break that they can have the power to dismiss the offenders among themselves.\" So, we again went back to the thana and told D.S.P.-saab that \"Look, people will not listen to this. Please call whoever has the power to act on our memorandum here and now.\" We suddenly remembered that our MLA (Koche Munda, BJP, from another village also under the Koel-Karo project) was to be in Torpa that day and, since he too is a people\'s representative, we should call him.

One person from Tapkara went to Torpa and about hour and a half later brought him to the OP. Then four of us, officers of the Jan Sangathan, including the secretary, chief secretary and the president, along with our MLA, went back to talk to the D.S.P. Koche Munda, our MLA, was asked by the D.S.P. what he thought should be done. Kocheji said that what the people outside wanted should be done. He said, \"You must dismiss these two people.\" But the D.S.P. said that this is beyond his power and he cannot do this. \"Then you get whoever has the power to come here. These two must be dismissed right here in front of the people.\" The D.S.P. said, \"You must think carefully before you demand this. You are the MLA and you yourself may be in this sort of a situation sometime. So, please think about this.\" Kocheji replied, \"No, this must be carried out now. They must be dismissed. He (Tapkara O.C.) treats everyone in this area badly. Even when I came on 26th January to the OP to participate in the flag hoisting I was not welcome. I am the MLA and I did not even take part in the proceedings that day. So, immediately he should be dismissed.\" The D.S.P. then sent a message to the Rural D.S.P. - because he has the power to dismiss these darogas -- on the wireless. The Rural D.S.P. said he would reach in about two hours.

The moment we walked out and were about to talk to the people, we heard shouts from inside the thana, \"Aadesh mila hai, inko maro! (The order has come, attack them!)\" It was around 3:30 then. Immediately they came out and lathi-charged the crowd. Those who got hit moved back a little. Immediately afterwards, may be a minute or so after they lathi-charged us, we heard the sound of firing. We were still talking to Kocheji and by the time we had realized what was going on, the firing had started. We were still sitting down, assuming they were firing in the air. There were no announcements or warnings. We could not see where the firing was coming from inside the thana, later we realised that they were actually firing from inside those circular bunkers. Suddenly we heard the sound of people falling and running. We screamed out to the people asking them not to run because we thought they were firing in the air. But now we saw that they were \"side-firing\" at the two flanks of the crowd. The guns were relentlessly firing at the crowd, \"dhana-dhan, dhana-dhan!\" The crowd was now running away and we also got up from under the tent of a food-stall, set up for the jatra-festival in front of the thana, and ran. Luckily, the bullets were not coming towards us. I helped our parha-raja to get up and we hid behind a mango-tree near the karmachari\'s (for land measurements) place. From there we hid near the urdu school and in the house of a mussalman. But they asked us to leave for our own safety. We ran away towards the fields of Bhanda-toli. This was about one km. away from the thana and yet, bullets were flying above us even there. The firing went on for over an hour. We counted upto 53 rounds while standing under the tree.

Later some people told me that there were over 150 rounds shot that day. (The police itself has declared that they fired 136 rounds). I tried to come closer to the thana again and was told that some people have died and others have fallen, while others had become so agitated that they were throwing stones at the police. Some people also witnessed tear-gas being fired in the midst of this. The few who were near the thana were finally driven out by the firing. Suddenly we saw smoke rising and heard from people who were running away from the firing that they have seen two police jeeps were burning. Then we went and saw some of the injured who had managed to arrive at the clinics of Farooqi-doctor, Nag and Dasai Munda. There were eight people in total. We could not find any car or ambulance to take the injured to the hospital. Meanwhile, several of the dead were lying near the thana. When anyone tried to go near the bodies they were being shot at. Thus no one was allowed to attend to the dying. Everyone had scattered and till late at night people were trying to get back to their villages. I got back at eight thirty. Next day I heard from a young boy that the police had packed everything up and left the thana at night.\" (This testimonial was taken on February 6).

What the police has however left behind is an official total of 9 people dead and more than 22 injured. All are Munda adivasis except one Muslim resident of Tapkara. Most were under 40 years of age and one was only a class nine student.

The Immediate Aftermath and the Police\'s Claims

After the people had scattered and the firing stopped, the police had broken into several houses and had arrested six people who were let go next day in Torpa. Only one among them was a Munda, the rest being three migrant Bihari workers in Tapkara, and two bania youth. The arrested were beaten but not very savagely because the D.S.P. remained strict with the constables.

From the one arrested man we talked to, we ascertained that the police packed and left around midnight for Torpa thana after loading their vehicles with the deadbodies lying around the thana area. One body was that of an injured who the police brought into the thana assuming he was dead. Upon realisng that he was still alive he was kicked and tortured. Whether that person died later or not we cannot ascertain. Eye-witnesses have also deposited with us that the police, after scattering the crowd, ran out of the station firing on the people escaping and shot and physically abused a few who had fallen down from injuries. The police seemed to have avoided shooting at the representatives who had just then left the OP. This may have been because they were in the same area as the women who the police were careful to not shoot at.

Local people seem to be certain that the police had burnt their own vehicles. We witnessed at least one jeep whose front tires were obviously taken out before the fire started. Unlike the other axles the front one was clean and did not have any black soot from the burning rubber tires. One of the arrested who we talked to told us that he himself had loaded a couple of jeep tires along with the thana furniture and other things.

The same man told us that the police were discussing how they shot through the thana roof when they shot in the air. To the press the police has claimed that the crowd had violently stoned the thana leading to the near death of the policemen upon which they were forced to open fire. The arrested we talked to claimed that when they took him in he saw that the thana was generally intact, no broken windows or broken walls. But when he was released from the room he was locked up in and then employed to lift all the furniture and miscellaneous items of the thana, he noticed that the place had been ransacked. We also noticed that doors and windows had been cleanly unscrewed and some of them were lying around in the thana still. The roofs of the inner rooms, further away from the crowd than the outer rooms were nearly all gaping holes. Some of the stones lying around seemed to be too big for anyone to have been able to hurl it from more than seven or eight feet, which would only take us to the thana\'s gate. With relentless firing of 150 rounds for over one hour it is not conceivable that anyone could have come that close to the thana or had even entered it.

It is still far from clear why and how the police managed to engage in such a violent and savage attack. The KKJS feels that the NHPC, the State and the Police wanted to provoke and test the unity and resolve of the villagers in the Koel-Karo movement. A team from Suravi (Mumbai), accompanied by a Ranchi based adivasi journalist and a film-maker, who had visited the area in November, 2000 and who were stopped and interrogated by the police, are witness to the fact that many crucial files on the Koel-Karo project including land-holding details, compensation rates and charts, etc. were with the police in Tapkara. Posters of the Koel-Karo Hydel project adorned the walls of the OP. Vasavi, another journalist from Ranchi, who was the first journalist to reach Tapkara on February 2, also found such posters of the NHPC in the OP.

The police claims that one of their constables was found dead, his body burnt. This claim, even if true, was strangely made only after two full days. What was going on with the police that they did not know for such a long time that one of their own was missing? The police have also claimed that 25 of their constables have been injured. The Tapkara OC, the police has claimed through Ranchi Express (February 3), was apparently critically wounded. Pictures have been splashed across several Ranchi newspapers of the OC being CT-Scanned and other policemen lying in heavily bandaged condition. From the arrested eye-witness and several others in Torpa we came to know that next day, February 3, the policemen, including the OC, were seen bathing without the bandages and there were no visible injuries on any one of them. After claiming very serious injuries on their part, the police have become completely silent as the days have passed and the number of dead and injured increasing among the villagers.

Finally, the police DG and additional DG, Special branch has claimed that they were very seriously attacked by the crowd after being instigated by MCC men, timber-smugglers and anti-socials among the crowd. Even the MLA, Koche Munda has been accused by the police. There is absolutely no evidence for this and the KKJS remains as autonomous from any other political organization as it always has been. The Muslim men, Nizam Khan and others, who have been accused by the police to be timber-smugglers are various kinds of traders in Tapkara and do not have any connection with timber-smuggling. In fact, the villagers complained to us that the only people who engaged in a timber racket were the police themselves who regularly stole timber and fire-wood from the villagers. As decided by the villagers, almost all the dead have been buried next to the shahid chowk near the Tapkara OP.

The Koel-Karo Jan Sangathan\'s Demands

The KKJS has unanimously decided that they will remain peaceful and democratic in face of this provocation. This has been the adivasi tradition and it is the basis on which they want to continue their struggle. They however remain absolutely committed to obtaining justice and honour for the dead, the injured and the attacked villagers. They welcome anyone who wants to think and act on this matter in a democratic manner.

The KKJS on behalf of all its members, i.e., all the villagers affected by the Koel-Karo Project, have demanded the following:

The thana OCs should be immediately dismissed.
The government must pay compensation of 15 lakhs for the dead and ten lakhs for the injured.
From the family of each dead person one person has to be given a job.
The government has to employ adivasis who know the local culture and language in the local thanas.
An additional demand for the permanent removal of the Tapkara OP is also being formulated.

So far, the Jharkhand government of Babulal Marandi has done little to address the killings. The following report from The Statesman, Calcutta (Feb 4) captures the tone of the ruling government: \"The state home commissioner, Mrs. Shushma Singh, said today that Sangathan activists had again attacked the Tapkara police outpost. She, however, said the situation was under control. She refused to divulge the names of the deceased and even feigned ignorance about the police firing. According to her, police only burst nine rounds of tear gas shells yesterday to disperse the mob… The people got restive on seeing police combing the area in search of naxalites, she claimed.\"

Instead, the police have filed two FIR cases against the local villagers, one against Amrit Guria, Vijay Guria (KKJS general secretary and one of the representatives on that day) and \'2000 unknown people,\' and the other against KKJS itself.

We feel, as does the KKJS, that there is an urgent need for ensuring proper legal, media and human rights support for the local villagers. While they remain very honest, brave and united, the state forces have systematically distorted the picture with the help of bureaucrats and a compliant Press. We hope that various human rights groups, citizens\' groups, social movements, conscientious bureaucrats, academics, journalists and others will come forward, learn more about the matter, discuss it among themselves and figure out their own appropriate ways of bringing more pressure on the state for ensuring justice and stopping all repression.

Names of the Killed or Maimed By the Police Firing (incomplete list)

Dead

Samir Dahang (Village Banda-Jaipur)
Lukas Guria (Gondra)
Soma Joseph Guria (Gondra)
Sursan Guria (Class 9 student, Derang village, shot in the stomach)
Susanna Guria
Jamal Khan (Tapkara Bazaar)
Sundar Kandulna (17 years, Bonai)
Daniel Kongari (Mathura toli)
Prabhusahay (Jarakel)

Injured

Sapan Bhengra (50 yrs., Kundro)
Junul Dahang
Joseph Guria (40 yr., Gondra)
Amus Guria
Herman Guria
Jenga Guria
Paulus Guria (40 yr., Kalet)
Francis Guria (30 yr., Gondra)
Masidas Guria (35 yr., Koinara)
Iliyas Khan (40 yr., Tapkara)
Mangal Guria
Raman Guria
Shilabanti Guria
Irwin Guria
Santosh Horo
Martin Kandulna (40 yr., Korakel)
John Kandulna (40 yr., Dirjoo, Jamtoli)
Masidas Kandulna (20 yr., Banda-Jaipur)
Sukhdev Pahan
Jaipal Surin
Samuel Topno
M.M. Topno

This report has been prepared in consultation with the villagers of the Koel-Karo Jan Sangathan by Sarada Balagopalan (Eklavya, Bhopal), Kaushik Ghosh, Fellow (anthropology) at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, and Meghnath (anti-dam activist, Ranchi). It is based on earlier research in the area and visits and interviews during the few days right after the killings. For obvious reasons some names have been withheld or changed in the report.