Chhattisgarh:
On Wednesday, the state of Chhattisgarh witnessed more violence as three young men who were labelled informers by the Maoists were brutally killed. With great trepidation, the more daring villagers in the neighbourhood came to look at their bodies. What they saw only reinforced their fear.
"They have beaten them to death so mercilessly, it's really scary,'' said one of the villagers.
Years of living in territory where the law-enforcers are fighting turf wars with the outlaws has taught some painful lessons to the residents.
"We have to bear the brunt of police atrocity and maoist violence. What to do, it has become our fate,'' said one of them.
The fear, distrust and suspicion are perceptible in the maoist-affected villages of Chhattisgarh. The environment is such that people are literally watching over their shoulder when they are talking to someone or meeting someone new.
Nemichand Jain, a local resident states his grievances, "Both the police and the maoists talk the language of the gun. The common man is not safe at all. The government machinery is not able to ensure anyone's safety.''
Champalal Jain who runs a grocery store in the maoist affected Narayanpur had to bear the brunt of the violence as the maoists targetted the vehicle in which he was sending supplies to a security forces camp in March.
"The government has not come to our help even though we were supplying to the police. We used to depend on this vehicle. We can't even get supplies now because there is hardly any public transport and our vehicle is burnt,'' said Sachin Kumar Jain, grocer's son.
In a state where the Maoist writ runs in large areas and the government's single point agenda is to put an end to that, the people have become prisoners of circumstances.