While I agree with you on the general meaning of the word "bandit", in this context it can mean two different things, I guess. Either a member of a criminal gang or, nore probably, a guerrilla resistance member in Turkestan, Caucasus or Siberia, for example. The Civil War was officially over in 1922, although some resistance still existed in Turkestan well into the 30s, in Caucasus -- until 1924 and in Siberia -- up to 1928. Communists generally referred to these guerrilla forces as "bands", although in reality they were somewhere in the middle between criminal gangs and political resistance forces, like mojahedin in Afghanistan...
Given the circumstances of Comrade Govorov receiving his award, I would guess he got it for fighting this kind of "bandits", not criminal gang members, being a regular army commander and all that... But it's just a guess.
