On the first day of 2024, a six-month-old girl, Mangli, was shot dead by Indian security forces in Bastar. The bullet went through Maase Sodi’s hand, who was holding her daughter at the time, cutting through her fingers before it killed the infant girl. The death was the first of dozens in the region this year, which has been marked by a surge in operations by security forces. While the state and central governments have made proud declarations about the number of Maoists killed in these encounters, Adivasi locals have repeatedly contested these claims, and accused the security forces of killing civilians. In the case of Mangli’s death, too, government, police and paramilitary officials claimed that the six-month-old died during a crossfire with Maoists. But eyewitness accounts belie the official version. In a detailed investigation for Article 14, Malini Subramaniam reported that Sodi and other locals had assembled in the…

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