On a rainy afternoon in Bodga, a remote village deep in the forests of Chhattisgarh, a state in central India, Sukli Oyam sits quietly on the mud porch of her thatched home.

She holds a photograph of her 22-year-old son, Ramesh, who was killed last year in a crossfire between government forces and left-wing Maoist rebels, known as Naxals or Naxalites.

The Naxals — named after the village in the foothills of the Himalayas where their armed campaign began nearly six decades ago — were inspired by Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong. Their insurgency against the government is mainly concentrated in central and eastern India.

Every time Oyam looks at her son's picture, her eyes fill with tears. The day he was killed is seared into her memory.

Oyam recalled how her family had gathered to celebrate the christening of Ramesh's younger daughter.

Ramesh, a millet farmer and the family's sole breadwinner, set out to his relatives' home to fetch a chicken for the evening feast. On the way, he stopped by the river to bathe. He never returned home.

Ramesh was hit by a bullet while on the riverbank, turning a day of joy into one of mourning, said Oyam.

"After my son's killing, we fear leaving our homes and my life has changed," 60-year-old Oyam told DW. "Now whenever the police enter our area, villagers like me hide inside their houses. During encounters, our life comes to a halt."

"I demanded compensation from the government for my son's death, but there has been no response," Oyam lamented. 

Oyam's neighbor, Raje Oyam, recalled a similar encounter.

She told DW that security forces stormed into her house last March after mistaking it for a Maoist hideout. She said she was shot in the back while feeding her child, the bullet narrowly missing her spinal cord.

Raje described how other villagers rushed her to the hospital after they found her lying in a pool of blood. She survived her injuries — but a year later, she said she still struggles.

"After the injuries, my body isn't working. I'm not able to farm or go to the jungle for work," she told DW.

"My body has been almost paralyzed by the injury and I'm barely able to walk. Whenever I go to the forest and see soldiers, I fear they might kill me."

What do the Naxals want?

The Maoist insurgency has simmered deep inside India's forests for decades. It began in 1967 in Naxalbari, a small village in the Indian state of West Bengal on the east coast, as a Maoist-inspired peasant uprising for land rights and social justice.

Today, the Naxals claim to fight for the rights of India's Indigenous communities, collectively known as Adivasis. Their goal is to overthrow the Indian state through armed struggle.

What is the government's endgame?

Bastar, the region in Chhattisgarh where Bodga is located, has become heavily militarized in recent years.

Since 2019, the government has set up around 250 security camps in the area — part of a surge that has placed one armed personnel for every nine civilians, according to a 2024 report by Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact Foundation, a civil society organization.

Security forces have intensified their operations in the forests of Bastar since last year. In early 2024, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Operation Black Forest (also called Operation Kagar) to wipe out the Maoist movement.

Given the tough terrain of these vast jungles, large numbers of security personnel were deployed, along with advanced surveillance technologies and drones.

The past two years have been the bloodiest period for Maoist insurgents in over a decade, with more than 400 Naxals killed in the Bastar region alone, according to the state's Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai.

Mission to track down Maoists

Earlier this month, DW reporters followed the special task force, known as the District Reserve Guards (DRG), on a patrol in the Bastar region. The operation was led by DRG sub-inspector Sanjay Paul. Their mission: to track down Maoists operating in the area.

For Sanjay Paul, carrying out operations in these jungles is complex and risky. He told DW that the dense forests are the perfect hiding place for Naxal fighters to carry out ambushes.

"The Naxal ideology poses a huge threat to us and to our country, we will not sleep till we finish it," he told DW. 

His words echo the stance of New Delhi. In February 2025, Interior Minister Amit Shah lauded the security forces for successful operations and set a deadline for eliminating the Naxal movement.

"I reassure the nation that by March 31, 2026, India will surely be Naxal-free," he said.

Locals, human rights activists detail human cost

As the heavy-handed approach tightens its grip on Bastar's forest villages, locals are left mourning their dead.

Many told DW that the line between Naxal fighters and villagers has blurred. They accused security forces of carrying out indiscriminate killings.

Iytu Oyam, a bereaved father from Komhu village in Narayanpur district, traveled to Bodga to meet with DW. He claimed that his son, Moto Oyam, was killed in a "fake encounter" by security forces last May while he was working on his farm.

"I want to tell the world that my son was innocent. He was not a Naxal. What was his crime that he was killed?" he said.

Activists and human rights lawyers have alleged that counter-insurgency operations have turned Bastar into a war zone where Adivasi communities, which make up most of the local population, live in constant fear from both sides.

They claim there is a pattern of extrajudicial killings, often called "encounter killings," where police allegedly stage civilian deaths to look like combat fatalities.

A region at a crossroads

Reports by groups such as Human Rights Watch have also documented arbitrary detentions, forced displacement and sexual violence by security forces.

"They have turned Bastar region into a graveyard, where almost every family has a story of human loss," according to lawyer Bela Bhatia, who is supporting Adivasi people in their claims against the state.

When DW confronted DRG officer Sanjay Paul with these allegations, the police officer denied any deliberate targeting of civilians.

"Sometimes it happens by mistake. During crossfires, civilians can die. But we do not kill civilians intentionally," he said.

Decades of Maoist insurgency, Naxal violence and state crackdowns have left nearly 12,000 people dead — including civilians, militants and security personnel, according to the latest figures from watchdog South Asia Terrorism Portal.

For Sukli Oyam, sitting with her son's photograph, justice feels like a distant dream.

"My son is gone," she said quietly. "The police didn't protect us. The Naxals who claim to fight for our rights didn't help us. We are just stuck in between."

Richard Kujur and Raunak Shivhare contributed reporting from Bastar, Chhattisgarh.

Edited by: Keith Walker