SUMMARY
The PCPA carried out one-sided violence in the context of its protests against police atrocities in India. The group protested against police atrocities, state neglect, and the abuse and repression of the Scheduled Tribes (a term used in India to denote tribal people recognized by the Constitution), demanding the removal of police camps from the West Midnapore district and compensation for the victims of police violence. PCPA primarily targeted civilians they believed to be police informers, former CPI-Maoist or PCPA cadres who had surrendered to the government, or government “collaborators” and CPI (M) (the Communist Party of India – Marxist) supporters. The civilians were often targeted by the PCPA’s armed wing, the “Sidhu Kanu Gana Militia”. PCPA also conducted one-sided violence in the context of setting up people’s courts to administrate justice, which predominantly resulted in the group executing civilians.
PCPA gained large-scale attention after they claimed responsibility for the Jnaneshwari Express train derailment in 2010. On 28 May that year, a passenger train derailed and collided with a cargo train between Khemasoli and Sardiha stations, near Jhargran in West Midnapore district. Officials in Sardiha disagree about exactly what happened to the sabotaged train tracks – some saying it was caused by a landmine blast, others blaming cut rail lines. Regardless of the course of action, 141 civilians were killed and posters left behind at the scene indicated that PCPA was responsible. Initially, only the student wing of PCPA claimed responsibility for the attack, and it was only until months later that the core PCPA followed suit. One striking aspect of the attack was that while PCPA claimed responsibility for the attack, the evidence presented by the police indicated that the initial target of the attack was a goods train – not a passenger train.
In terms of geography, PCPA was located in West Bengal State and the majority of its one-sided violence was concentrated to West Midnapore district. West Bengal State was also a strong-hold for other Naxalite groups, including the CPI-Maoist.
PCPA first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 2010, when the one-sided violence resulted in more than 25 civilian deaths. The threshold was reached on 28 May that year when a PCPA attack caused a passenger train to derail in West Midnapore district, resulting in 141 deaths.
