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 revolutionary leader Mao Zedong.

They follow a form of communism propagated by Mao, and have waged a guerrilla-style insurgency against the government, particularly 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 Ayam, 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........

© Deutsche Welle