MAHARASHTRA-The Chandrapur Arrests

MAHARASHTRA The Chandrapur Arrests BETWEEN April 16 and May I there was an unprecedented police crackdown on 19 alleged "top" Naxalites in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra. Not only was the crackdown one of the biggest such operations in the state, it also seemed to be part of a concerted anti-Naxalite offensive being carried out in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. In the light of the recent Arwal "encounters'' and the unfortunate history of police ill-treatment of political detainees that has been unearthed since the Emergency, the Bombay Union of Journalists sent a fact-finding team to Chandrapur (via Nagpur) on May 10, 11 and 12 to investigate and to get first hand information and verify how the law and order machinery was tackling the situation in this mineral, timber and tendu-leaf rich region. This report is based on the findings of the team.