Sendra The Hunting

By FIROJ KUJUR

Today internal security is a matter of great concern for many countries. It applies within the country too. Since the beginning of civilizations, sapiens have faced many challenges and hurdles. Some wholly vanished and some flourished. Those who championed co-operations were the people who ruled the world and flourished. Peacekeeping has mattered since the inception of human civilizations.

The state of Jharkhand, very rich in mineral resources and natural abundance, home to many kinds of spectacular flora and fauna was formed in the year 2000. Since its formation, the state has faced many challenges with regard to internal security. Which caused developmental work.  So people of the state started migrating in search of livelihood out of the state. Even today, many districts are categorised as highly sensitive to internal security.

Jharkhand is a state in eastern India that has been affected by Naxalism or Maoist insurgency for several decades.

In Jharkhand, the Naxalite movement has been fueled by several factors, including socio-economic inequality, the political marginalization of tribal communities, land disputes, and the exploitation of natural resources. The Naxalites have been known to carry out attacks on government officials, security forces, and infrastructure, as well as engage in extortion and kidnapping for ransom.

The government has responded to the Naxalite insurgency in Jharkhand with military and development initiatives. The government has deployed paramilitary forces and established special task forces to counter the Naxalites, while also implementing schemes to address the root causes of the conflict, such as the redistribution of land to landless farmers, providing access to education and healthcare, and creating employment opportunities.

Despite these efforts, the Naxalite insurgency in Jharkhand and other parts of the country continues to pose a significant security challenge for the government.

In the above backdrop, the story revolves. Sendra is one of the hunting traditions of the tribal community, celebrated with fun and fare. But in the novel, you will find different aspects of  Sendra The Hunting.

The protagonists at Meditation Point in Patratu Resort, decode the Sendra by connecting dots, plan for Operation Sendra in Singham Style, and join the village people for the annual Sendra, The hunting Festival.

Harriyo Nege and Bairy Dalal become friends, sharing beer after beer, strong bondings with a common mission set for the expedition, first to the city of Joy Kolkatta together then each separately with a common purpose.

They made blunders, ready to take full responsibility for the blunders, but they are forced to cover the blunder by preparing logical and believable narratives.

Who forces them to do so?

• Language: English
• Publisher: FIROJ KUJUR
• Release date: Mar 30, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215628768

FIROJ KUJUR

Firoj Kujur is born in one of the remotest villages called Chatakpur, district Latehar, Jharkhand India. His father was a farmer cum carpenter. His mother was a loving and caring housewife. He first went to a government middle school in Chatakpur, for his high school he was enrolled at St Xavier High school Gothgaon. He developed a fascination with written words early in life. Whatever came his way he read? The day result of the board exam was declared, his father gave him two options, either to marry and settle in life or go for education on his own without support. He chose the latter. Life tasted him every time he pursued his studies, so there came many occasions he dropped his studies worked for some time, restarted his studies and completed his graduation from Calcutta University. He enrolled for a master's in English Literature but after a year dropped out. Again he enrolled for a Bachelor of Education but life was through different challenges so again he dropped it. He too joined the legend of Drop Outs. He is introverted so his friendships grew day by day with the books. He read hundreds of books from fiction to nonfiction. He developed his writing journey when he was in his 10th standard, a poem and an article were published in one of the magazines. He also wrote plays for high school and college. The Novel “They Ride Together” is his first work in the field of fiction work. He was a part of the Horror Anthology “Midnight Thrillers” which became Amazon's Best Seller in Various Categories. “Sendra The Hunting” is the second work of fiction. At present, he is staying in Ranchi Jharkhand India with his wife and daughter. He wants to explore life. He believes in the Philosophy of " Life Long Learning ."

Book preview

TO

MY LATE MOTHER KRIPA LAKRA

MY WIFE ALMA AJEETA LAKRA

MY LITTLE DAUGHTER ALFIE KUJUR

TABLE OF CONTENT

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 14

CHAPTER 15

CHAPTER 16

EPILOGUE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

JUST DIVE INTO

Chapter 1

The Panchayat, The Village Court

PROLOGUE

Two dreadful incidents , which took place at the beginning of the century, changed the world in many ways. 9/11 attack on WTC and 26/11 on Taj Hotel.These two incidents had a profound impact on the world in numerous ways. Many countries launched a global war on terrorism, increased security measures,  changed foreign policies, and many cultural changes took place to curb terrorism. The events had a far-reaching and long-lasting impact on the world, affecting politics, society, and the economy in numerous ways.

These two events brought to notice that terror is not restricted to a particular geographical area, rather it has a global presence. Terror is present everywhere in various ways, some have local impacts and others have large-scale impacts.

The world gave more importance to external security and surveillance. It also fueled the weapon industry, many countries started investing a large part of their GDP in Defense related industries. Weapons were mass-produced. Some modern weapons made their way to illegal weapon dealers and from there to extremists.

Naxalism is a sort of political ideology and movement that originated in India in the late 1960. It sought to overthrow the government and establish a communist state through armed struggle. The movement was named after the place Naxalbari in West Bengal, where the movement began.

Naxalism has had a significant impact on the lives of people in the affected areas, causing violence, displacement, economic hardships, human rights violations, Terror and insecurity and whatnot. For the people who followed naxalism, a modern weapon made them very powerful. And this gave to rise many armed struggles among them.

The encounter took place in Bakoria village, about 140 KM from Ranchi in the wee hours. All the bodies have been recovered, this is what the Superintendent of Police told the news agencies on 9th June 2015.

Print media gave the heading as

"12 suspected Maoists gunned down in Jharkhand"

"12 Maoists killed in police encounter"

"Top Maoist commander and 4 minors killed"

"Security Forces Gun Down 12 Rebels in Jharkhand"

It was the night of 8-9 June 2015.

The narrative was like:Getting intelligence inputs that the Maoists were moving into the district, the Cobra Battalion and the district police rushed to the spot.On seeing the personnel, the Maoists got down from the vehicle and sped away, and the Naxals from the other vehicles got down and opened fire on the police. In the retaliatory action, 12 rebels were gunned down.

The Maoists were moving in two vehicles, and while one vehicle sped away, the Naxals from the other vehicle got down and opened fire on the police. It was the Dasta{firing squad} of CPI {MAOIST}.

This is the first major incident in Jharkhand in recent times. However, The Indian Express spoke to the locals who claimed that the Naxals did not retaliate against the police and that not a single police officer had even been injured in the incident. A report also noted that Suv had 22 bullet marks, including nine at the back. However, there were no blood stains.

The killings of the 12 Naxals late Monday night, while hailed as a great success by the state police has raised many questions, especially over the killing of the four minors.

The main issues addressed in the Fact-finding are the Nature of the Encounter, The criminal background of all the 12 alleged Maoists, Investigation into whether the encounter was suspect.

Based on the incidents, data, sources and grieved families. The encounter has many missing points which raised big questions. Local people have different narratives, the state government has different ones, and human rights activists have another.

This story moved my young mind up and down. The story remained with me for a very long time. Every time I try to accept the true account of the story, new facts emerged. So fact-finding continues. Now and then new search operation takes place with different names. Operation Sendra was one such operation. The case first went to the High Court and then to the Supreme Court.

The truth still haunts me.

The novel is my way of understanding the matter in a fictional way. This novel is very much inspired by the incident. The novel is in no way related to the true accounts. It is just a work of fiction.

The period, the place, the characters and the narratives all are fictional.

Firoj Kujur

Ranchi

March 2023

CHAPTER 1

t ime has come my friends , yes it has to come, you elected us with full majority. We will clean the naxalism from the land of our state. We already have suffered a lot, and gone through a lot of agony and pain. I swear we will do all the possible things to make our land free from naxalism. We will not shoot and kill them with guns, rather we will wash them with our development projects. Yes, my brothers and sisters, we together with the help of the government will take part in the movement to free our land, the Land of Jhar. The newly elected Chief Minister of state roars from the dice, which is set up at the Morabadi Ground. It is the occasion, the official ceremony of Oath taking of Chief Minister, together with six other cabinet ministers.

A large crowd was assembled, most of the supporters of the political party, wearing the party's Scrap on their neck, holding banners, roaring with the speaker on dice. It seemed it was not only the Chief Minister and Cabinet minister who was taking the oath but the crowd was also taking the oath together with their CM. His words were scorching the blood in their veins and they could imagine their state free from the snags created by the Naxals. They were willing to live with peace and harmony, and wanted to listen to the melody of serene nature despite listening to the shrieking sound of bullets along with the fear that surmounted them everytime, 

I, together with my team, was selected by the government for the operation called, Operation Sendra. I was in charge of fifty people. The CANS(Chief of Anti Naxal Squad) of the state has specially assigned this task. I do not know why he selected me. I was posted in the Ranchi Control room, and for the last two years, I was coordinating various operations of the central government. Almost all the operations were centred around naxalism. I was providing valuable input to the central government with the help of state government machinery. 

Bairy Dalal, a senior police officer was sent to this particular state to assist CANS by the centre to understand the various factors which help naxalism to spread. He was closely monitoring things with the CANS of the state. Every fifteen days, I was supposed to share some reports with Mr Bairy Dalal. We developed a good rapport with each other. We shared our beers sometimes on the weekends. Even though there is an age difference we went along but could not hinder the bond that we shared. 

Mr Bairy Dalal belonged to one of the southern states. After a few months of interaction, I came to know his real intentions, and why he chose to befriend me. He wanted to learn the local language, in which I was brought up. Whatever the intention was, we became great friends as we increased the sharings of beer bottles. Rank wise I was junior to him but was also learning new things being with him.

I came to know that it is Bairy Dalal, who suggested my name to lead the team. I was fed up with routine jobs;  making calls the entire day, collecting data, processing it, making bullet points and finally reporting to the centre and state government. Operation Sendra gave me new lease of life and brought me out of the monotony of the sitting job. I was thrilled and excited and had the luxury of freedom to choose the team for the operations. This was something I was meant for, to fly high in the limitless sky.

Name Sendra operations derived its origin from the festival of tribals who live near Mountain Budha, which is one of the highest mountain peaks inthe state. Buddha Mountain is covered with a very thick forest. It is situated on the border of three states,  Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh. 

I was born and brought up in these areas for almost sixteen years and after clearing my 10th standard  examination with good marks, I was sent to the state capital to pursue my further studies. My further studies hopped in with a few responsibilities and for the same reason, I did not go to my birthplace for ten years, as I pulled the rickshaw to support myself and my family. I worked very hard and that’s how I cleared the Commission exam and made my rank as head constable in Central Armed Force. Academically, I was better so I was allowed to create a network of informers. For the first five years, I put my sweat and blood into it. That  network of informers helped me to get e very valuable input that helped us further to deal with the rising terror in the state.

These days Budha Mountain is making the headlines in newspapers for two reasons. First, many people are missing from the village down the mountain and secondly, Naxal activities have increased in these areas. As it is on the border of three states, it has become a hideout place for the naxals. 

Before I took the responsibility to lead the operations, I asked CANS and Bairy Dalal to give me two months of paid holiday, so that I could live with the village people to attain their trust. And I made a special request to them that I will not lead the team directly but people in my team will understand that I am led by one among them. As the operations begin, I will join the team as a guide from the village. It took time but I was given the opportunity.

The summer has just started, and activities of village life just came to standstill. After harvesting the crops, and stocking the produce, people spent most of their activities developing and enjoying their hobbies. Some are learning how to weave the fishing net, some are learning how to make agricultural tools, and women are learning to make carpets out of palm leaves. Mahua is ready to shed its flower, so the first half of the day is spent picking up the Mahua. So, all villagers set out to forests early in the morning to collect the Mahua and during the second half of the day, the weaving work begins. A lot of activities are happening in the forests.

Sarhul the local festival, is approaching. The festival is celebrated with great hype. Sarhul is the festival of the New Year, celebrated in the state of Jharkhand by the tribal communities as part of the local Sarna religion. Even though the Sarna religion does not have its religion code in the census column of the census. People celebrate it with utmost happiness. Most of the tribes stay in forests or nearby forests so they worship the trees of the forest. One among many trees is the Sal tree. And this Sal tree is the centre of the Festival Sarhul. People worship their God for good rain and harvest. Just two days before the festival, the villagers further go fishing.  

Before Sarhul, there is another festival of Fagu which is celebrated just after the harvest during February and March. This is the month of hunting. People in groups go to the deep forests for hunting, camp in forests for weeks and hunt. For adults, hunting is an annual function and for children, it is an annual adventure. These tribals cook food on leaves and survive on the food available in the forests. They use ancient methods of cooking and hunting. Hunting in the depth of forests is sometimes mysterious too and children learn the tactics of hunting from the young ones. Adults of the tribe pass on the legacies by showing the art of hunting.

"Big success in countering the Naxal, ten naxals are killed by Security forces, a lot of modern guns and weapons were recovered from them," was the headline of the daily newspaper. All of a sudden news spread to other parts of the country just like the rain that begins from a particular area and swathes the entire country. 

The team which was part of the encounter was felicitated by CANS himself. IPS incharge of the district was recommended for the President Medal. The cash award was distributed among the team.

A properly dressed, IPS incharge of the district with four bodyguards to cover him, was speaking to the media while looking at the camera with confidence and composure, I have got a confidential piece of information from our trusted source, that some naxals are planning to plant land mines in under construction road, and I secretly set a team for the operation. For the last month, we are regularly monitoring the areas and last evening we found some proof and attacked them on the spot and here you can see the resultsthat we have killed all the naxals. We will continue to pursue our hunt in the future also. We are determined to halt the spread of naxalism. He twisted his moustaches out of haughtiness with a gleam on his face.

All national newspapers flaunted the news in bold letters, giving prominent space to the police team on the front page. One daily newspaper says, Great Salute to the SP and his team. Power of police with a gun to safeguard the civilian, another newspaper says. Are all they naxal? A big question, another national daily critically analyses the issues.

All visual media run their prime time with the news the whole day and attractive ads every few minutes were rolling the charts. It is like a roller coaster business opportunity for the media industry to showcase the ads by charging a hefty amount from the advertisement