India civil society initiative seeks end to gov’t-Maoist conflict

Modelled after a Colombian project, Victims Register rallies public opinion by recording stories of loss and suffering.

Kolkata, India – “If I go, they will kill me,” says the voice of an Indian police officer fearful of retribution from left-wing rebels. He regrets not being able to visit his family in a village in central India. In another audio recording, a poor local tribeswoman says her brother was jailed by the police last year after being falsely accused of being a guerrilla. “Why has he stopped farming? Why does he sleep in houses other than his?” she says, parroting the police’s charges.