The year 2021 remained a historic year for the tribal-dominated state Chhattisgarh in many ways. In some parameters Chhattisgarh emerged as a fast-paced developing state by breaking several records but in the context of the crime graph and increasing crime rate, it performed poorly. Poor policing resulted in some bone-chilling unexpected devastating incidents. Some of them are listed below-
1. Frustrated by her husband's liquor addiction, a married woman of Bemcha village jumped to death in front of a speeding train along with her five daughters in Chhattisgarh's Mahasamund district on June 10, 2021. The incident was so heart-wrenching that it created panic in the whole area. People distressed by the incident, started debating over the banning of liquor sale and intake. Unfortunately, no concrete step was initiated by the ruling government to prohibit liquor sale in the state. Earlier the Baghel government promised to impose a liquor ban in the state also included it in the election manifesto.
2. The bodies of five members of a family were recovered from a house in a mysterious condition in the Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel's electoral constituency Patan on March 06, 2021. It created panic in the area. At the crime scene, father and son were found hanging using the same rope with iron rod of the house while three burnt bodies of female family members were found near a heap of hay outside the house at a village in Chhattisgarh’s Durg district. The issue was highlighted in the Chhattisgarh Assembly to Lok Sabha. It was said the father killed all then committed suicide.
3. A video clip circulated on social media in which it was shown the speeding Mahindra Quanto car tossing the people into the air. The car plowed into devotees who were on the way to immerse a Durga idol in Pathalgaon in Chhattisgarh's Jashpur district on October 15, 2021. One person died on the spot and around 20 people were injured in the incident. When people chased the car and caught the driver they found that that speeding car was laden with ganja (cannabis) and indulged in illegal narcotic interstate trade.
4. The CRPF jawan Reetesh Ranjan, disturbed from the demeaning jokes of his colleague opened fire on his fellow jawans and killed four of his colleagues and injuring three more jawans on November 8, 2021. Despite the jawan being arrested, tall claims of security forces management again exposed that it is not doing much to resolve the issues of the stressed jawans. Its grievance redressal mechanism came under scanner. It required proper introspection and timely action so that such things do not occur in future.
5. On September 25, 2021, the Jashpur police arrested a caretaker and a watchman for allegedly raping a girl student studying in government-funded school for special children. The school is run with funds from District Mineral Foundation (DMF) under Rajiv Gandhi Siksha Yojana. It has been reported that on the intervening night of September 22-23, 2021, a seventeen-year-old was allegedly sexually assaulted and other five inmates were allegedly molested by the caretaker and the watchman but no one come to the rescue. In the investigation, it was found that the superintendent who was appointed to take care of these children did not reach the school for the last two years. The incident again sent a grim reminder of the Jhaliyamari incident where at least 15 minor tribal minor girls studying school were continuously sexually exploited for years.
6. A communal violence occurred in Kawardha on October 3 on the issue of flag hoisting. Police booked 90 people including the ex-CM’s son Abhishek Singh and other BJP leaders. More than a week's curfew was imposed. It resulted in the transfer of IG Vivekanand Sinha and the SP. The government accepted that eruption of communal violence was a police administration failure.
