I am writing this blog for my own satisfaction, after the Supreme Court disposed of our public interest litigation without proper hearing, on May 15 2025. We had filed the cases in 2007. This post must be read in conjunction with my chapters on litigating against counterinsurgency in my book, The Burning Forest, which deal in more detail with the 2011 judgement.
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO. 250/2007
IN THE MATTER OF:
NANDINI SUNDAR
VERSUS
STATE OF CHHATTISGARH & ANR.
WRIT PETITION (CRIMINAL) NO. 119/2007
AND IN THE MATTER OF:
KARTAM JOGA
VERSUS
STATE OF CHHATTISGARH
CONTEMPT PETITION (CIVIL) NO. 140/2012
AND IN THE MATTER OF:
NANDINI SUNDAR
VERSUS
SHRI SUNIL KUMAR
COMPREHENSIVE NOTE ON THE ISSUES INVOLVED AND A RESPONSE WHICH THE STATE’S AFFIDAVIT 30.08.2024 SIMPLY DOES NOT ADDRESS
The writ petitions were filed against the state policy of arming civilians and militarizing the districts of Bastar, Sukma, Bijapur and Dantewada in the state of Chhattisgarh, which resulted in an exponentially rising spiral of devastation. This case may broadly be divided into five sections:
I. This Court’s indictment of a counter insurgency policy of using state sponsored vigilantes and SPOs, in its judgment reported as Nandini Sundar v. State of Chhattisgarh (2011) 7 SCC 547, and the brazen violation of the same by the State of Chhattisgarh thereafter.
This is reiterated in the State’s Affidavit dated 30.08.2024 filed following this Hon’ble Court’s directions of 16.7.2024 for a status update, purportedly showing compliance of order dated 05.07.2011
II. The extent of human rights violations in Chhattisgarh and the State’s failure/inability to redress the same.
III. This Court’s directions to the CBI to investigate the incidents of violence (arson, rape and murder) in three villages of Chhattisgarh, namely Timmapuram, Morpalli and Tadmetla by the SPOs as well as the violent attack on Swami Agnivesh, and subsequent developments.
IV. Role of the National Human Rights Commission.
V. Proposed Rehabilitative measures - Survey and Independent Monitoring.
My article in The Wire Hindi on need for peace talks
And a slightly updated version in the English Wire.in
Raghavendra Singh of CG Khabar interviewed me on the sidelines of a meeting in Dalli Rajhara on the need for peace talks. He asked about how I came to Bastar, the murder charges against me, and about the situation in Bastar. I argued that whatever the outcome of the peace talks between govt and Maoists - and its extremely important that there be peace talks - we need justice. All those killed, raped and displaced during this conflict should get some justice. There is a third party to the talks - which is the most important - and that is the people of Bastar
The principle of seniority in appointments – whether it be of chief justices, army chiefs or heads of a university department – is not some quaint relic of a colonial bureaucracy that can be dispensed with at the pleasure of the current ruler. It is an indispensable mechanism to ensure institutional autonomy and the long-term survival of any institution. Once the seniority principle is violated, it becomes a free for all – with allegiance to the ruling ideology or personal favoritism overtaking merit and duty in all spheres of activity. Members of an institution become more concerned with whether their speech and actions please those in power, than with what their duties and obligations actually are.
Ever since he took charge in December 2023, the newly elected Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai, with Amit Shah’s backing, has made ‘zero tolerance’ of Naxalism a key issue for his government. In the last one year alone, counting the 10 alleged Maoists killed on November 22 in Sukma, the Chhattisgarh police has killed 207 people. In all cases, they have claimed that they were Naxalites killed in encounters. In several instances, however, such as the killings of Joga Kunjam (Rekhapalli) and Hidma Podiyam (Marudbaka) on 7-8 November in Rekhapalli, or the 10 villagers in Pidiya in May 2024, villagers have attested to the fact that they were ordinary civilians killed in cold blood. Villagers have also reported repeated mortar shelling in their villages – the latest reports coming from the new Kondapalli camp around noon on the 24th of November just when everybody is out harvesting their crops. The kind of triumphal blood lust on display in a video of District Reserve Guard or armed auxiliaries dancing with their guns has not been seen since the early days of Salwa Judum. To add to the violence of the year, according to a police estimate, the Maoists have killed 60 suspected informers.
https://newbooksnetwork.com/the-burning-forest
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/nandini-sundar-the-burning-forest-indias-war-in/id427197319?i=1000676615790