Incident Summary:
04/12/2010: On Monday night around 2200, at Khairachatar marketplace, in Bokaro District, Jharkhand, India, Ajay Kumar was branded as a police informer as well as an impostor by a Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) kangaroo court and was beheaded. According to police, Kumar was taken by 12 armed Maoists and brought to Khairachatar where they pronounced him guilty of informing the police about their movement between Jharkhand and Bengal and of collecting levy posing as a rebel leader. Kumar’s hands and legs were tied and his throat slit before the Maoists cut off his head and dumped his body in the marketplace. Maoist posters were posted in Khudibera warning that persons collecting money in the name of the CPI-M will meet the same fate.
Overview
GTD ID:
201004120004
When:
2010-04-12
Country:
India
Region:
South Asia
Province/administrative
region/u.s. state:
Jharkhand
City:
Bokaro
Location Details:
The incident occurred at a marketplace in Bokaro, Jharkhand, India.
What
Attack Information
Type of Attack () |
Armed Assault |
Successful Attack? () |
Yes |
Target Information ()
Target Type: Private Citizens & Property |
Name of Entity |
|
Specific Description |
An alleged police informer was targeted in the attack. |
Nationality of Target |
India |
Additional Information
Hostages |
No |
Ransom |
No |
Property Damage |
No |
How
Weapon Information
Type |
Sub-type |
Melee |
Knife or Other Sharp Object |
Weapon Details |
Unknown sharp weapons were used in the attack. |
Additional Information
Suicide Attack? | No |
Part of Multiple Incident? | No |
Criterion 1 () |
Yes |
Criterion 2 () |
Yes |
Criterion 3 () |
Yes |
Doubt Terrorism Proper () |
No |
Who
Perpetrator Statistics
Number of Perpetrators |
12 |
Number of Captured Perpetrators |
0 |
Casualty Information
Total Number of Casualties |
1 Fatalities / 0 Injured |
Total Number of Fatalities |
1 |
Number of U.S. Fatalities |
0 |
Number of Perpetrator Fatalities |
0 |
Total Number of Injured |
0 |
Number of U.S. Injured |
0 |
Number of Perpetrators Injured |
0 |
Sources
Sources
Mail Today, "Maoists Behead Youth in Jharkhand," LexisNexis Academic, Mail Today, April 14, 2010. |
United News of India, "Maoist Kill Youth at Kherachatar," LexisNexis Academic, United News of India, April 13, 2010. |
Indo-Asian News Service, "Maoists Kill Man for Collecting Levy in Their Name," LexisNexis Academic, Indo-Asian News Service, April 13, 2010. |
Criteria
Criteria 1
The act must be aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social goal. In terms of economic goals, the exclusive pursuit of profit does not satisfy this criterion. It must involve the pursuit of more profound, systemic economic change.
Criterion 2
There must be evidence of an intention to coerce, intimidate, or convey some other message to a larger audience (or audiences) than the immediate victims. It is the act taken as a totality that is considered, irrespective if every individual involved in carrying out the act was aware of this intention. As long as any of the planners or decision-makers behind the attack intended to coerce, intimidate or publicize, the intentionality criterion is met.
Criterion 3
The action must be outside the context of legitimate warfare activities. That is, the act must be outside the parameters permitted by international humanitarian law (particularly the prohibition against deliberately targeting civilians or non-combatants.
Doubt Terrorism Proper
The existence of a "Yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper?" records reservation, in the eyes of GTD analysts, that the incident in question is truly terrorism. Such uncertainty, however, was not deemed to be sufficient to disqualify the incident from inclusion into the GTD. Furthermore, such a determination of doubt is subsequently coded by GTD analysts as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Alternate Designation
The determination of "yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper" by GTD analysts is coded as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Successful Attack
Success of a terrorist strike is defined according to the tangible effects of the attack. For example, in a typical successful bombing, the bomb detonates and destroys property and/or kills individuals, whereas an unsuccessful bombing is one in which the bomb is discovered and defused or detonates early and kills the perpetrators. Success is not judged in terms of the larger goals of the perpetrators. For example, a bomb that exploded in a building would be counted as a success even if it did not, for example, succeed in bringing the building down or inducing government repression.
Type of Attack
This field captures the general method of attack and often reflects the broad class of tactics used. It consists of the following nine categories:
- Assassination
- Armed Assault
- Unarmed Assault
- Bombing/Explosion
- Hijacking
- Hostage taking (Barricade Incident)
- Hostage taking (Kidnapping)
- Facility / Infrastructure Attack
- Unknown
Target Information
This field captures the general type of target. It consists of the following 22 categories:
- Abortion Related
- Airports & Airlines
- Business
- Government (General)
- Government (Diplomatic)
- Educational Institution
- Food or Water Supply
- Journalists & Media
- Maritime (includes Ports and Maritime facilities)
- Military
- NGO
- Other
- Police
- Private Citizens & Property
- Religious Figures/Institutions
- Telecommunication
- Terrorists
- Tourists
- Transportation (other than aviation)
- Unknown
- Utilities
- Violent Political Parties