Terror in Gumudumaha

A four-member team of the Ganatantrik Adhikar Surakhya Sangathan (GASS, Odisha) and the Human Rights Forum (HRF, AP and Telangana) visited Gumudumaha village on 17 July. The team was looking into the firing by the Special Operations Group (SOG) which killed five civilians in Paranpanga panchayat of Tumdibandha block in Kandhamal district of Odisha on 8 July. Over 15 residents of the village were returning home after having collected their MGNREGS wages at the subdivisional headquarters (Balliguda) in an autorickshaw.

A four-member team of the Ganatantrik Adhikar Surakhya Sangathan (GASS, Odisha) and the Human Rights Forum (HRF, AP and Telangana) visited Gumudumaha village on 17 July. The team was looking into the firing by the Special Operations Group (SOG) which killed five civilians in Paranpanga panchayat of Tumdibandha block in Kandhamal district of Odisha on 8 July. Over 15 residents of the village were returning home after having collected their MGNREGS wages at the subdivisional headquarters (Balliguda) in an autorickshaw. Since the autorickshaw had to go over a steep incline, they got down and while the women, two of them carrying infant sons, walked ahead, the men pushed the autorickshaw up the kutcha road.

As they reached the top, SOG personnel lying in wait amidst bushes not more than 10 to 15 metres away opened fire without any warning. Five people, including three women, and a two-year old boy were killed instantly while seven others were wounded, five of them seriously. The dead and wounded belonged to the Adivasi Kondh and the Scheduled Caste Pano communities.