New Delhi

Fifty-three people were executed by Maoists after ‘kangaroo courts’ found them ‘guilty’ in the five worst Naxal-hit states of the country in the last three years.

According to Home Ministry statistics, 18 people were killed following the directives of ‘kangaroo courts’ or ‘Jan Adalats’ in 2015 for being alleged police informers or “for not believing in Maoist ideology”.

During 2015, 41 ‘Jan Adalats’ were held by Naxal cadres in five Left Wing Extremism affected states — Andhra Pradesh (1), Bihar (6), Chhattisgarh (14), Jharkhand (14) and Odisha (6).

Altogether 15 people were executed in 2014 following orders of 54 ‘Jan Adalats’ and 20 people were killed in 2013 under the directives of 63 ‘Jan Adalats’.

“To create terror among civilians in the Left Wing Extremism affected areas, the Maoist cadres, in their ‘Kangaroo Courts’, also called ‘Jan Adalat’, or ‘Praja Courts’, execute sentence against the civilians, who do not subscribe to their ideology in the areas under their domain or labelling them as police informers,” a Home Ministry official said.

In 2016, till February 15, two ‘Jan Adalats’ have been held in Chhattisgarh.

While nearly one lakh paramilitary personnel continued to be deployed in Left Wing extremism-affected areas, the 10 Naxal-hit states — Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh — saw 226 deaths in 1,088 incidents of violence perpetrated by Maoists in 2015.

In 2015, of the 226 deaths, 168 were civilians and 58 were security forces personnel.

As many as 89 Maoists were also killed and 1,668 were arrested and 570 cadres surrendered before authorities during the year.

PTI