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The Wire
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Wire
Not Even Skeletal Remains, Ashes of N. Keshava Rao and Other Slain Maoists Given to Kin
Hyderabad: Not only did the Chhattisgarh police cremate the bodies of Communist Party of India (Maoist) general secretary Nambala Keshava Rao and some others killed in the May 21 encounter in Abujhmad in the state's Narayanpur district on their own, they also refused permission to the deceased's relatives to even fetch their skeletal remains and ashes. Judicial intervention to help the relatives' cause also went in vain. In Keshava Rao's case, his kin also asked the police to hand over his spectacles that were recovered from the encounter site, but their request was not conceded. Of the 28 Maoists killed in the encounter, the police handed over 20 bodies to their kin but cremated the remaining eight themselves. The eight were Kesava Rao, four people from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and three from Chhattisgarh. Keshava Rao's younger brother Ramprasad told The Wire that the stock reply they got from police was that a law and order problem would emerge if they handed over the bodies or remains. There would be a global congregation of rights activists as Keshava Rao was well known internationally. Then, a demand for the construction of a martyrs memorial would also be made. All this can lead to a law and order situation, he cited the police as saying. It was said that the police acted on instructions from the Chhattisgarh government to check the 'hero worship' of martyrs, as this could radicalise gatherings and lead to the recruitment of cadres. There were also concerns that a crowd may want to organise a rally. Ramprasad said the eight bodies were cremated by the police on the evening of May 26 despite orders by the Andhra Pradesh high court that they be handed over to their relatives. He and the relatives of other slain Maoists, including Sajja Venkata Nageswara Rao – who was an editorial board member of the Awam-e-Jung publication of the Maoist party – had reached Narayanpur on May 22 with three ambulances to take the bodies with them after hearing about the encounter, but were turned away by the police as they could not produce documents to establish their relationship with the deceased. Neither did they have Aadhaar cards, family photos or certification by the sarpanches of their respective villages in support of their claim for the bodies. With no other option, Ramprasad and others returned to Andhra Pradesh to knock on the doors of the judiciary. A vacation bench of the court at Amaravati, comprising Justices N. Harinath and Y. Lakshmana Rao, had disposed of two petitions on behalf of Keshava Rao and Venkata Nageswara Rao on May 24, asking their relatives to approach the Chhattisgarh police and claim the dead bodies in the wake of an assurance given by the advocate general of Chhattisgarh. The bench made the observation after hearing arguments from both sides on the court's territorial jurisdiction. The advocate general of Chhattisgarh, who appeared virtually, initially argued that the court was not competent to entertain the petition of the relatives as 'no cause of action arose within the jurisdiction of this court'. On the other hand, the deputy solicitor general, who also argued online on behalf of the Central Reserve Police Force that was involved in the encounter, said there could be a reason for not handing over the dead bodies as doing so could lead to a law and order situation. Under the guise of performing final rites, there could be a procession that may further escalate the law and order problem, the deputy solicitor general argued. Andhra Pradesh's advocate general, who was also present via videoconference, agreed with his Chhattisgarh counterpart that the high court of the latter state would have to be approached as the dead bodies were not in the custody of any state authorities within this court's remit. However, a senior counsel for the petitioners submitted that Article 226(2) of the constitution enabled his clients to seek relief from Andhra Pradesh even though the incident occurred in Chhattisgarh. He relied on a Supreme Court judgement that said a court can issue appropriate directions when part of a cause of action arose within the limits of the state that it adjudicated. Without going into the issue of the court's territorial jurisdiction, the bench disposed of the petitions, recording the submission of Chhattisgarh's advocate general that the post-mortem examination of the bodies would be completed on the same day (May 24) and 'they would be handed over to their relatives later'. Armed with the court order, Ramprasad and others went back to Narayanpur in Chhattisgarh to claim the bodies. But to their dismay, the police refused to hand over the bodies and instead offered to let them watch the cremation from a distance if they gave an undertaking giving consent to security forces to cremate the bodies. The cremation was to take place at a burial ground for tribal people on May 26. But they refused to sign any papers and returned to proceed with their ceremonies at home. Upon learning about the cremation, Chilaka Chandrasekhar, secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Civil LIberties Committee, filed a contempt petition in the Andhra Pradesh high court on May 27, with notices to Chhattisgarh's chief secretary and its director general of police, as well as to the inspector general of police of the Bastar region, P. Sundarraj, alleging a violation of the court's earlier order. He prayed for action against the senior officials for going back on a promise given to the court to hand over the bodies. But the court dismissed the case on the grounds that it cannot entertain a contempt petition for an incident that occurred in Chhattisgarh. The submissions of the advocates general of Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh could not be attributed as an undertaking by Chhattisgarh officials, it said. An interim application filed in the court asking the Chhattisgarh government to give the skeletal remains and ashes to the kin was also turned down during arguments on May 29. Asked for comment, Sundarraj told The Wire that the bodies were disposed of after following due process and instructions from the executive magistrate. He did not want to elaborate further as the court had taken cognisance of the matter. The relatives of one deceased person from Chhattisgarh expressed unwillingness to carry his mortal remains to their village, apprehending the spread of communicable diseases. Chandrasekhar told The Wire that civil rights activist and research scholar Bela Bhatia mediated efforts by relatives to secure the bodies. It was she who learnt about the recovery of Keshava Rao's spectacles.
Scroll.in
6 days ago
- Politics
- Scroll.in
How Chhattisgarh police cremated bodies of Maoist leader and cadres without their families' consent
On May 27, as the body of the Maoist general secretary Nambala Keshava Rao went up in flames in an Adivasi graveyard surrounded by a police cordon in Chhattisgarh's Narayanpur, his younger brother Nambala Ramprasad stood enraged outside a local police station. 'After death, the body of the deceased belongs to the family,' he said. 'What Chhattisgarh police has done is very wrong and unacceptable.' Ramprasad, who lives in Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh, had rushed to Chhattisgarh on May 22, a day after news broke that the state police had killed 72-year-old Rao, better known as Basavaraju, the top leader of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), and 26 others in a security operation. Ramprasad even secured an order from the Andhra Pradesh High Court directing that the police hand over the bodies of those killed to their families after the postmortems had been done. However, instead of handing over Rao's body to his brother, Chhattisgarh Police cremated him and seven others, claiming in a statement that they had no 'clear legal claimants'. The statement, released after the cremation on Tuesday, did not identify those cremated, barring Rao, and Kosi alias Ungi, a Maoist cadre from Komatpalli village in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district. This left many anxious relatives in the lurch. Since May 22, the relatives of five deceased Maoist insurgents from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have been waiting in Narayanpur district, equipped with three ambulances with deep freeze containers to carry their bodies back. 'We do not know whose bodies have been cremated, as the bodies were not even shown to us – not even a glimpse,' said Dara Saraiyya, the uncle of Sajja Venkata Nageswara Rao, another senior Maoist leader, known as Naveen alias Madhu, who originally hailed from Prakasam district. Officially, the Chhattisgarh police through its statement maintained that 'there were no legal claimants' to seven of the eight bodies cremated. But, according to some media reports, senior officials feared that funerals of the Maoists could be turned into public events used for the 'glorification of their propaganda' and hence acted to prevent such possibilities. Hours after the cremation, Nambala Ramprasad went to the office of the Narayanpur police superintendent the next morning to request that the ashes of his brother be given to him. He was asked to sign a declaration stating that the family was unable to provide legal documents to establish a relationship with the deceased, and the body had decomposed and posed a risk of disease spread, therefore, the police and administration were allowed to cremate the body in Narayanpur. Ramprasad refused to sign the declaration and left for Srikakulam with the empty ambulance. Matter taken to court On May 21, as soon as he heard the news that his brother had been killed in a security operation in the forests of Bastar in Chhattisgarh, Nambala Ramprasad, 61, went to the local Kotabommali police station in Srikakulam district. He was told to travel to Chhattisgarh to collect the body of his brother. The next day, when he reached Jagdalpur, the regional headquarters of Bastar region, he received a phone call from the police superintendent of Srikakulam district. Rao said the officer asked him not to bring the body back to the district, citing instructions from the Andhra Pradesh government. Four other people traveling along with Rao, including the driver of the vehicle, were threatened through their local village councillors, he alleged. Expecting trouble, Ramprasad returned to Andhra Pradesh the next day. His elder brother Nambala Dilleshwar filed a writ petition at the High Court in Amaravati. He asked for the body of his brother and that of Sajja Venkata Nageswara Rao, another Maoist cadre from Andhra Pradesh who was killed in the encounter, to be handed over to their family members. The Andhra Pradesh advocate general as well as the Chhattisgarh advocate general objected to the petition, arguing that the petitioners should approach the High Court in Chhattisgarh as the bodies were in the custody of the authorities in that state. The deputy solicitor general, appearing on behalf of the Central Reserve Police Force, said that force had no role in the matter but submitted that the reason for not handing over the bodies was to avoid a law and order situation that could arise 'under the guise of performing final rites'. Nevertheless, the Chhattisgarh advocate general submitted before the court that after completion of the postmortem 'the bodies would be handed over to the relatives of the deceased'. Setting the argument of jurisdiction aside, the High Court dismissed the writ petition with the directions that the bodies be handed over to the families in compliance with the submissions made by the advocate general of Chhattisgarh. Apart from Nambala Keshava Rao and Sajja Venkata Nageswara Rao, another deceased insurgent from Andhra Pradesh was 35-year-old Sangeeta Saipogu from Kurnool district. Two other deceased Maoists belonged to Telangana – 35-year-old Bhumika alias Vijayalaxmi from Ranga Reddy district and 30-year-old Rakesh Saraiyya alias Naveen from Hanamkonda district. A long wait In Chhattisgarh, the relatives struggled to get access to the bodies. 'We were shunted between hospital and the police thana, asked to produce papers and family photographs,' said Dara Saraiyya. He added that his nephew Rakesh had left home to join the insurgent movement in 2016, 'so we have no family photograph as such'. Displaying the authorisation letters approved by the local police station, Ramprasad said: 'We have all the necessary papers from local authorities to show we are blood relatives of the deceased.' He added: 'I have not met my brother for the last 45 years. How can I get them a family photograph?' For five days, the families waited but no senior police officer came forward to explain why the bodies were not being handed over to them. In contrast, the bodies of most of the deceased Maoist cadres from Chhattisgarh were handed over to their families after they showed an Aadhaar card to identify themselves – barring Kosi alias Ungi from Bijapur, whose family was told by the police to cremate the body in Narayanpur since it had decomposed. 'They merely said so, but they did not show us the body,' said a young relative of Ungi. When asked if the family agreed to the body being cremated in Narayanpur, the relative said, 'Ab hum kya bol sakte hain – now, what can we say?' A hasty cremation On the morning of May 27, the relatives of the dead Maoists gathered at the office of the Narayanpur police superintendent but he did not meet them. Around noon, they were asked to reach Narayanpur police station. They rushed there along with the ambulances, followed by journalists, only to be asked to wait. Around 4 pm, amidst a heavy downpour, word leaked that the bodies were being taken to an Adivasi graveyard. Soon, vehicles began to roll towards the identified cremation ground. A large closed vehicle identical to a police van went in, likely carrying the bodies given the stench emanating, followed by a truck laden with petrol cans and two tractors with logs of wood. They travelled past a waste dumpyard to reach an Adivasi graveyard heavily guarded by police personnel. No one, barring a few journalists, was allowed to get close to the area. By 5 pm, fires were seen blazing at several places on the ground. Among those present at the spot was an Adivasi journalist, Bindesh Patr, who expressed shock over the police intruding upon the Adivasi community's burial ground and using it to carry out cremations. 'It is an insult to our Adivasi culture,' he said, sounding anguished. He tried contacting the collector and superintendent of police, but it was in vain. The station head officer of the Narayanpur thana refused to let him inside. Violation of orders Refusing to participate in the cremation, which took place around 2 km away from the main city, the relatives of the deceased insurgents gathered outside the Narayanpur police station to address the local media. 'We were kept captive through the afternoon,' said Nambala Ramprasad. 'We were asked to agree to allow the bodies to be burnt which each of the family refused to.' Family members who were inside the police station since 11 in the morning emerged around five in the evening. Bela Bhatia, a lawyer and activist who has been assisting the families in their attempt to recover the bodies, said: 'This is not only violation of the AP High Court directions to hand over the bodies to the family members after postmortem, but complete violation of national and international laws that directs the State to preserve and dispose human dead body with human dignity.' Hours before the cremations took place, Nambala Ramprasad, through his lawyer, approached the Andhra Pradesh High Court again to file a contempt petition, seeking action against Chhattisgarh officials, including the state principal secretary, the director general of police and the inspector general of police. 'Perhaps fearing the court would compel them to hand over the bodies, the police committed an even greater travesty of justice by consigning the bodies to flames, which has only made the matter worse for Chhattisgarh government and police,' said C Chandrasekhar, the advocate representing Ramprasad. Before he left for Andhra Pradesh, Ramprasad added: 'What the police has done today is utterly disgraceful, but I have full faith in the judiciary in giving justice to the family members.'
The Hindu
22-05-2025
- General
- The Hindu
Bridging the learning gap: Why parental and community involvement is key to India's FLN mission
In Lalakhedi village, located in the Sehore district of Madhya Pradesh, Ramprasad, a daily wage labourer, is a father of three school-going children, Anshu, Vidhya, and Gauri, who study in Classes 1, 3, and 4, at a government school, Madhyamik Vidyalaya, Lalakhedi. When asked about his involvement in their education, whether he motivates his children to attend school regularly or complete their homework, or knows what syllabus is being taught in school, he said, 'Yes, but they do it themselves.' Ramprasad says his children return home after school and complete their schoolwork on their own. 'They don't get any homework these days,' he added. Both he and his wife, who is also a daily wage worker, are often away from home during the day, leaving little room for academic support to their children. When asked if his wife gets involved in the children's studies, Ramprasad said, 'She has not studied much, so she is often unable to help.' He added that he has studied till Class 8. Expressing a common belief among many parents, he said, 'There's nothing much to study in Class 1 and Class 2 in any case,' suggesting that early-grade learning is easy and can be the school's responsibility. As schools work toward basic reading and arithmetic, families and communities outside school also play a major part, say educationists, adding without their participation, classroom efforts alone may fall short. However, a significant proportion of India's schoolchildren are not very different from Ramprasad's children. Their parents and the extended community around them are not in a position to play that role. The importance of active parental involvement becomes even more pronounced in the context of the National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN) Bharat Mission, which aims to ensure that all children acquire Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) skills by the end of Class 3 by the year 2026-27. FLN levels at this age are important for future studies and skills, and then employability. The school's FLN efforts include ensuring the child's ability to read age-appropriate texts with comprehension and carry out basic mathematical tasks like addition, subtraction, and multiplication. To support and assess the progress of children under the NIPUN Bharat mission, the government has introduced PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development), a national assessment centre under NCERT which aims to establish a framework for assessing learning outcomes across States and ensure that FLN goals are being met effectively. PARAKH helps schools and policymakers identify gaps early and make informed interventions. The success of these goals and programmes hinges not only on what happens within the classroom. There is a need for more community-level campaigns and support mechanisms that can bridge the gap between school, home and studies. The problem is not just access or infrastructure, but a lack of interconnectedness—between parents and teachers, between policy and practice, and between the child's world inside and outside school. Filling this void requires a coordinated, community-powered movement, not just classroom-based reform. Root causes Jayant Joshi, a retired government school principal who is now involved in developing FLN workbooks (Abhyas Pustika), is engaged in creating training modules for teachers under the FLN programme in Bhopal. He shares the challenges he has observed at the ground level while working closely with families and communities. He noted that children often miss school during harvest or the 'katai' seasons, as they are expected to help their families. Many children are tasked with looking after younger siblings when their parents are away at work, which further affects their attendance and learning consistency. He observed that teacher training does not translate into actual ground work due to differences in teaching methods, lack of understanding and, sometimes, just inertia. Mr. Joshi says that while the special FLN workbooks are designed for students to carry home and revise what they've learned in school, parental involvement remains minimal. Many families, particularly in rural and tribal areas of Madhya Pradesh, come from farming backgrounds or belong to Adivasi communities, where the parents themselves often haven't received formal education. 'They believe that whatever little their children manage to learn in school is enough. Most parents only check whether their child has passed or failed,' he added. Abdul Qayom Khan, principal of a government school in Kupwama, Kashmir said that students in his school are from different language backgrounds. Not all understand Hindi, Urdu or English, thus teaching class 3 the basic concepts of addition-subtraction in their native language poses obstacles for teachers and for students both. They are also first generation learners so 'the school does not expect parental support….students showing up to the class is the most ambitious expectation we hold,' Mr. Khan added. While in Kashmir, the political disturbances can take a toll on students' learning, elsewhere in India, other external factors such as transport connectivity, lack of infrastructure, harsh weather, irregular availability or unwillingness of teachers to work in remote locations, and seasonal agricultural work often takes priority over education. A non-profit intervention Avinash Verma, who works as a Programme Officer in Patra, Dhar (Madhya Pradesh) with the SRF Foundation, shared that a CSR programme of the company in partnership with the government has adopted several government schools with the aim of transforming them into model schools. The SRF Foundation is the social responsibility arm of SRF Ltd., working to improve the quality of education in government schools across India. 'Our first priority is to develop or repair the school's infrastructure then we move toward strengthening the academic structure,' Mr. Verma said. Their efforts include teacher training, setting up computer labs, digital classrooms, Science labs, and creating subject-specific reading corners. They also ensure the availability of equipment and stationery needed for academic activities. 'It is equally important to build teachers' capabilities to make full use of these facilities, and that's why we focus on teacher training and hold regular competitions. The recognition and involvement motivate teachers,' he added. He further explained that SRF volunteers hold regular meetings with the village sarpanch, Anganwadi workers, teachers, and parents to assess the school's needs and align efforts accordingly. These community meetings have helped in regular interactions between parents and teachers, as well as the attendance count of every student. 'Some parents argue that teachers aren't teaching, and so they stop sending their children to school. These kinds of doubts often come up and are openly addressed in the meetings,' he said. Mr. Verma talks about a common issue observed on the ground: 'Sometimes students lie to teachers, saying their parents asked them to come home early, and then tell their parents that the teachers weren't present. These situations lead to misunderstandings, but regular communication helps us tackle them.' He noted that hygiene, clean bathrooms, water availability, internet availability, and quality of mid-day meal keep the parents enthusiastic about sending their children to school. 'We take time to explain to parents that the teachers in government schools are well-qualified and have cleared competitive exams, unlike many in private schools,' he said. 'To build trust, we even invite them to join the children for a mid-day meal at school so they can see the quality of food being served.' The role of School Management Committees Sometimes, a pro-active School Management Committee (SMC) can turn things around such as in the Corporation Elementary School in Mogappair, Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Ms Krishnaveni, Headmaster of the school, shared that the SMC associated with her school comprises 25 members, including educationists, volunteer parents, and community volunteers. The school runs classes from kindergarten to Grade 5 and currently includes 25 children with special needs, including students with autism. 'Interested parents join the committee as volunteers and that way they help their child and other children too through the daily tasks of reading and writing,' Ms. Krishnaveni said. What sets this school apart is the everyday involvement of at least six to seven parents who come in to assist students with reading and writing. The school also conducts special coaching classes for both children with special needs and others in core subjects like Maths, English, and Tamil, for two and a half hours daily. Supported by the Tamil Nadu government, the school has been provided with workbooks and learning materials - the SMC enhances this further by creating laminated grammar and Math activity sheets, promoting newspaper reading, and sharing library books to improve students' reading habits. They also engage students in practicing tongue twisters in Tamil and English to help develop vocabulary and improve speech, especially for students with special needs. Ms Krishnaveni said that the government conducted the FLN assessment in November 2024 for Classes 3 and 5. From Class 3, 20 students were selected through a government lottery system to take the test. The results of the assessment are yet to be announced. However, Ms. Krishnaveni went a step further. Once the selected 20 students completed the assessment, she conducted the same test for the rest of the class as well, comprising 40 students. 'This was to understand where each student stands and to identify who needs additional attention.' She noted that among the 40 students in Class 3, three have autism and five are on the dyslexia spectrum. Despite these challenges, she said the majority of students performed well. 'About 90% of them did well, though 10% struggled with English. For those students, we're currently holding special English support classes after school,' she added. She also pointed out that 20 students have shown advanced writing skills. Ms. Krishnaveni mentioned the importance of community involvement in a child's learning journey. 'It's not just the teachers. We have coaching volunteers, parents, and even school staff like sweepers stepping in to help. One of our sweepers conducts drawing classes to keep the students engaged and reduce boredom,' she shared. 'I strongly believe that one teacher alone can't make a difference. We need a group, a community, that supports students daily, helping them achieve the basics,' Ms. Krishnaveni said. Statewide FLN missions The Central Square Foundation (CSF), a non-profit dedicated to enhancing students' learning outcomes through its system-level interventions and State partnerships, works with 11 State governments as a technical support partner to design and implement statewide FLN missions. Ms Shaveta Sharma-Kukreja, CEO & MD, says these collaborations support States in creating roadmaps, developing content, strengthening teacher capacity, and building monitoring systems to ensure the effectiveness of FLN efforts on the ground. CSF also advocates for a community-led approach to improving learning outcomes, aligning closely with the goals of the NIPUN Bharat Mission. Ms. Shaveta noted that CFS is developing easy-to-understand communication materials, supporting States in conducting FLN-focused SMC orientation sessions, conducting training for headmasters and mentors, as well as supporting the State in organising parent-teachers meetings. 'The success of the NIPUN Bharat Mission is not just a government priority, but to achieve its objectives, it needs to follow a whole-of-society approach and be energised by members of the community,' she said. Ms. Shaveta further notes, 'By equipping SMCs with the right knowledge and tools, and empowering parents, we aim to make them true partners in ensuring that every child in Grades 1-3 can read with understanding and solve basic Math problems.'
