Amidst criticism that some innocent villagers were killed in the recent encounter in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh, an unapologetic Chief Minister Raman Singh has said there was “no alternative” to a “strong and firm response” to Maoist violence. And responding to charges that only six of the 19 killed had prior police record — thereby implying that the rest were not Naxal cadres — Raman Singh, in an emailed interview with The Indian Express, said the absence of previous record in police registers cannot automatically lead to the inference that those who died were “innocent”.