Raipur: A 28-year-old villager in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region was executed by Maoists this week in a so-called “jan adalat” — not for being a police informer, but for celebrating Independence Day by hoisting the national flag and singing the anthem with fellow villagers and schoolchildren.
The victim, identified as Manesh Nureti, had urged students and residents of Konge panchayat to gather near a primary school where Maoists had built a memorial pillar for their slain cadres. On August 15, he led the villagers in singing the anthem and raised the Tiranga on the red memorial itself.
According to villagers who later recounted the events at a local market, the act enraged Maoists. A video of the celebration reportedly reached their local committees, after which residents were summoned deep into the forest for a public “trial.” There, Nureti was singled out and sentenced to death in front of hundreds.
Police have not yet officially confirmed the sequence of events or the condition of Nureti’s body. Kanker SP Indira Kalyan Elesela said, “We haven’t heard from Nureti’s family — they have shut themselves off. We are verifying whether the Independence Day celebration was indeed the trigger. What we know is that he was a progressive young man interested in the region’s development.”
Nureti, who had studied up to Class XII at a residential school, often volunteered as a teacher for children in his village. Locals described him as a spirited youth who wanted education to reach even the most remote hamlets.
Villagers, however, remain silent in public after such killings. Security forces said residents often attribute Maoist executions to “snakebites” to protect themselves from further reprisals.
This year’s Independence Day was particularly significant for Binagunda village, on the Kanker-Narayanpur border. Locals said the Tiranga was hoisted there for the first time since independence; previously, Maoists had marked August 15 with black flags, banners, and warnings.
The Maoist memorial that Nureti draped with the national flag had been erected only weeks earlier during their annual “shaheedi saptah” (martyrs’ week). The area, once among Bastar’s worst insurgency-hit zones, saw a major setback to Maoist ranks in April when 29 cadres — including senior leaders — were killed in a single encounter with security forces.
