Skill training for surrendered Maoists or forced detention by Chhattisgarh police?

Home Minister Amit Shah beamed in the photograph, while Prasanna looked solemn, standing a few rows behind him.

The group photograph was posted on Shah’s X handle on June 23. The accompanying text quoted the home minister as saying: “The children in whose hands the Naxalites had placed guns, those children are being given books to make their future brighter.”

But Prasanna is not a child. He is an Adivasi man in his fifties.

Hailing from a village in Bijapur district – his real name and the village’s name are being withheld to protect his identity – he alleged to Scroll that he was being held captive by the police in a compound in the district headquarters where he was being forced to take skill training.

The compound that he identified functions as a rehabilitation centre for surrendered Maoists. But Prasanna denied being one. He alleged that the police had detained him for leading a peaceful protest in his village.

There were about 90 other “trainees” like him being subjected to involuntary detention at the centre, he claimed. In June, they were given new blue-coloured track suits and told: “Raipur ghumaakar laate hain, phir chhod denge” – We will take you on a trip to Raipur, after that we will let...

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