A shocking revelation has come out from our research , Prashant Bhushan, the activist-lawyer long accused of batting for extremists, has once again been exposed for where his loyalties truly lie. On page 82 of the Maoist Information Bulletin (July–September 2010), a tribunal report signed by Bhushan openly demands that India’s soldiers and security forces be booked under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Yes, you read that right. Instead of targeting the blood-soaked Maoist insurgents who butcher civilians, ambush jawans, and burn villages, Bhushan wanted the very men and women risking their lives to defend the Republic treated as caste-criminals.
It is pertinent to mention that the tribunal report was reproduced by the Maoist Information Bulletin. It was originally published elsewhere. The report was published in 2010 during the UPA Government when Manmohan Singh was Prime Minister.
Twisting a Protective Law into a Weapon Against the State
The SC/ST Act was created to shield India’s most vulnerable communities from caste atrocities. Bhushan and his fellow “civil liberties” lobbyists want this law flipped on its head, to drag police and paramilitary personnel through the courts every time they confront Maoist militias in the jungles.
The tribunal report bluntly states: “The SC & ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 be diligently applied against security officers committing such abuses on Tribals.”
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The tribunal report also blamed the Indian Government for the Naxals turning terrorists. It stated, “A large number of testimonies before the Tribunal provided a sampling of the kinds of Human Rights abuses taking place: Arbitrary picking up of Adivasis and their torture; Arbitrary arrests of Adivasis as well as of those who to highlight the abuses by the security forces on false and trumped up charges; people even being killed in fake encounters or in custody. These abuses are only serving drive more Adivasis to pick up Guns and join the Maoists.”
Signed by Prashant Bhushan himself, this recommendation hands Maoist sympathizers a perfect legal tool: every anti-Naxal operation can now be painted as an “atrocity,” and every jawan branded a criminal.
Undermining India’s Soldiers, Empowering Maoists
While soldiers fight with their backs to the wall in Dantewada, Bastar, and Jharkhand, Prashant Bhushan and his circle of “rights crusaders” sit in air-conditioned seminar halls drafting petitions that tie the hands of the security forces.
The Maoists already rely on kangaroo courts and fake-charges of “fake encounters” to delegitimize the state. Bhushan’s endorsement of this line is nothing short of handing the insurgents a shield of lawfare, a way to bog down the Indian state in endless litigation while Maoists reload their rifles.
The Larger Agenda
Bhushan has often appeared in the same breath as Arundhati Roy, Binayak Sen, Medha Patkar, and others who the Maoist bulletin itself proudly describes as “Maoist sympathisers”. Together, they form a well-oiled ecosystem of lawyers, activists, and writers who consistently frame the Indian state as the oppressor while whitewashing Maoist massacres.
The timing is telling: Operation Green Hunt was inflicting serious damage on Maoist strongholds in 2010. Just then, Bhushan and company emerged with a demand to criminalize the very offensive through the SC/ST Act.
The Verdict
Prashant Bhushan’s stance is not about justice for tribals. It is about demonizing India’s defenders and elevating Maoist killers into “victims.” By urging the application of the SC/ST Act against soldiers, Bhushan has crossed a line: from human rights advocacy into outright anti-state sabotage cloaked in legalese.
The question the nation must ask is simple: When a lawyer sides with Maoists against India’s soldiers, whose side is he really on?
