bastar division

'96% Bastar Region Becomes Free From Maoist Influence'

In a significant blow to Maoist operations in Bastar, 108 cadres, including 44 women and several divisional committee members, surrendered under Chhattisgarh's rehabilitation campaign. Security forces recovered 101 weapons and a record Rs 3.61 crore in cash and gold, crippling the insurgency's financial and armed capabilities.

For the first time in independent India, residents of 126 villages in Chhattisgarh’s left wing extremism-affected bastar division got to vote at polling stations in the vicinity of their homes. Until 2018, they had had to endure an arduous trek through dense forests, hills and rivers to cast their franchise, while also fearing a backlash from Maoists who would invariably call for a poll boycott. On Tuesday, the 20 assembly constituencies in LWE-hit areas of Chhattisgarh and Mizoram that went to polls recorded an impressive turnout of 71.1% and 77.8% respectively.

At least 30 unnatural deaths, 15 of which owe direct allegiance to diarrhoea, have been reported from various remote villages of bastar division in the past one month.

Scheduled Tribe members adhering to Hindu customs are not barred from the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, Chhattisgarh High Court ruled. The court set aside a family court's rejection of a mutual divorce petition, stating that those who voluntarily follow Hindu rites cannot be excluded.

Bastar police on Saturday released a poster on 34 most wanted Maoists, with their photos and bounties on each, and sought information that would lead to their capture.