Indian reactionary state forces killed a 6-month-old baby in Mutvendi, Bijapur district, Chhattisgarh state on January 1. State forces say there was an “encounter” with Maoist guerrillas when the child was killed, a claim residents refute.

According to witnesses, Massi Vadde was breastfeeding her 6-month-old baby when Indian security forces opened fire in a forested area of Mutvendi. The bullet went through Massi Vadde’s hand killing her baby.

The Communist Party of India (Maoist) West Bastar Division has also clarified that no encounter took place that day. According to CPI (Maoist) divisional secretary Mohan, the community was attacked because of their opposition to militarization and resistance to corporate dispossession of their land.

The police are from Kavadgaon (near Mutvandi). This is one of the three police camps in Bijapur district newly built in December 2023.

The terrorist attack by the state forces on Indians, particularly on the Adivasi or indigenous people of India, is part of the ongoing Operation SAMADHAN-Prahar, the India government’s counterinsurgency campaign. Its implementation began on 2017 to crush the CPI (Maoist) and its armed forces, and is being used to target the unarmed struggle of the Indian people.

In the last five years of its operation, the state built at least 195 paramilitary camps. These camps are built with the collusion of big corporations and the fascist regime to oust and suppress the democratic resistance of the Adivasi and the Indian people.

In a related news, Indian youth and teachers of Delhi University protested at their campus in Delhi, India on January 10 to condemn and demand an end to Operation SAMADHAN-Prahar.