India - NIA Special Court 10 maoist condamnes 10 maoists at death

 The special NIA court in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar district on Wednesday handing down death penalty to all 10 convicts in the 2013 Jhiram Valley Maoist attack case represents gross abuse of human rights and the evolution and aggrandization of neo-fascism within the judicial structure-

A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Jagdalpur city in Bastar district on Wednesday convicted 10 Maoists and awarded them death on charges of criminal conspiracy and murder for their alleged involvement in the Jhiram Ghati attack.

In the 2013 attack, armed cadres of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) had encircled and executed an attack on a Congress convoy, killing at least 27 people and almost wiping out the state party leadership. As many as 38 people had suffered injuries.

NIA judge Ajay Singh Rajput convicted the accused under several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. The death sentence was awarded for criminal conspiracy (120 B) and murder (section 302) of the IPC.

The 10 who have been convicted are Pramila Modiyam, Chaitu Lekam alias Munna, Sumita alias Punem Modiyam, Mukka Mandvi, Kosa Kavasi alias Kosaram, Aayata Markam, Madkami Deva, Joga Madkami, Banjami Sanna alias Chamru and Mahadev Nag. An 11th accused died during trial while another 28, named in the chargesheet as accused, have been listed as wanted.

Backdrop of Action

It must also be taken into account the backdrop in which the Maoist action was executed on the Congress leader, in 2013. For a considerable period Mahendra Karma, who was instrumental in founding the banned anti-Maoist militia Salwa Judum, sponsored gruesome attacks on unarmed tribals, shattering all aspirations for a better livelihood. Whether one agrees with their political line or not is another matter but, the offensive represented strikng injustice in it’s very belly and put a check and retaliated the brutal oppression unleashed. A Punjabi revolutionary journal ’Surkh Rekha’ even if belonging to another political trends, endorsed it’s significance.

Incarceration

The special NIA court in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar district on Wednesday handing down death penalty to all 10 convicts in the 2013 Jhiram Valley Maoist attack case, in which 27 people including senior Congress leaders, were killed, represents gross abuse of justice. The ten persons sentenced to death have consistently testified their innocence, and their families have throughout verified d that they were falsely implicated in the Jhiram Valley case. They are Adivasi villagers from poor and disadvantaged backgrounds who have already languished approximately thirteen years in incarceration. The judgement represents the evolution and aggrandization of neo-fascism within the judicial structure.

Significantly, even the prosecution does not allege that these ten persons engineered the Jhiram Valley attack. The prosecution case itself blames the planning and direction of the attack to senior Maoist leaders, none of whom were ever brought to trial in the present proceedings. The persons who now face execution are not those whom the prosecution itself holds responsible for orchestrating the attack. The residents of such areas are routinely trapped in a crossfire between armed actors on multiple sides Thirteen years of incarceration before sentence is an extraordinary desecration of liberty, with consequences not only for the prisoners but for their families and communities.

Credibility of Death Penalty

The death penalty is opposed to the Constitutional principles of Rule of Law and is not the answer to this or any crime. The imposition of capital punishment in this case is a testament to unequal access to justice, individual culpability, and the disproportionate impact of the harshest punishments awarded to the poorest and most marginalised sections of society. Noteworthy that India remains amongst a select band of countries worldwide that still has death penalty in its lawbooks and practices it – as of 2025, 113 countries across the world have abolished capital punishment. It is a merciless and barbaric form of punishment and accentuates crime. It violates the right to life and dignity, and decades of research show that it accentuates crime. The relationship between poverty, and exposure to the harshest punishments cannot be ignored No serious discussion of capital punishment in India can exclude the inter relationship between poverty and capital punishment. The harshest punishment falls on those at the margins, with the alleged architects often left scot free and never brought to trial:

No Process set up to review cases prisoners wrongly framed

These death sentences must also be viewed in the backdrop of the present circumstances prevailing in Bastar. The State Government has repeatedly promised peace, dialogue, surrender and rehabilitation as part of its approach to resolving the decades-long conflict. For decades, the prisons of Bastar have stacked large numbers of Adivasi men and women arrested in alleged Maoist cases. Families and civil liberties groups have repeatedly protested false implication, and prolonged incarceration to secure eventual acquittal after years spent in prison. This contradiction has become more acute at a moment when the State claims that the armed conflict is on the verge of collapse. While surrender and rehabilitation are being readily offered to persons leaving the Maoist movement, there has been no compatible process to review the cases of Adivasis who have spent years in prison framed alleged Maoist cases, including those who maintain that they were never associated with the Maoist movement at all. Justice is antagonistic with vengeance. To secure a genuine transition towards peace it is imperative for rectify it’s the State to confront legacy of false arrests, prolonged undertrial incarceration and wrongful prosecutions, and build a credible and transparent mechanism for reviewing the cases of those who continue to languish in prison.

Harsh Thakor 

secours rouge

Treize ans après l’embuscade de Jheeram Ghati, dans le Chhattisgarh, un tribunal spécial de la NIA (Agence nationale d’enquête de l’Inde) à Jagdalpur a condamné à mort dix cadres présumés du Parti Communiste d’Inde (maoïste), reconnus coupables de meurtres, de complot criminel et d’infractions liées notamment au terrorisme, aux armes et aux explosifs. Le 25 mai 2013, un convoi du Congrès avait été attaqué dans la région de Bastar, faisant 27 morts, dont 10 policiers, et 38 blessés. Plusieurs responsables du Congrès figuraient parmi les victimes, notamment Mahendra Karma, ancien ministre du Chhattisgarh et figure majeure du Salwa Judum, une mobilisation de contre-insurrection anti-maoïste soutenue par les autorités. Dans une déclaration publiée après l’attaque, le PCI (maoïste) a revendiqué l’opération, menée par sa branche armée, l’Armée de guérilla de libération du peuple (PLGA), et présenté Karma et d’autres politiciens comme des cibles prioritaires.

La défense conteste toutefois la culpabilité des dix condamnés. Des proches de Joga Markam et de Kosa Kavasi affirment notamment qu’ils n’étaient pas présents lors de l’attaque et ont été faussement impliqués. L’avocat des condamnés a annoncé un recours devant la Haute Cour. Par ailleurs, plusieurs autres membres du PCI (maoïste) cités dans le dossier restent recherchés ou ont depuis rejoint un processus de reddition. Les peines de mort restent donc susceptibles d’être examinées en appel. L’affaire intervient alors que les données officielles indiennes font état d’une baisse des « violences liées à l’extrémisme d’extrême gauche », avec 374 « incidents » et 150 décès en 2024, contre respectivement 1 091 et 310 en 2014.