Skip to main content

Chhattisgarh "rape, fake encounter" of tribal woman: Cops stop AAP team under Soni Sori seeking to visit village

Soni Sori
By Our Representative
Soni Sori, Chhattisgarh adivasi woman leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), has begun an indefinite fast outside Sukma collectorate because she and her team have been prevented from visiting a village where a young woman was killed in an encounter that villagers say is fake.
Sori has been quoted as saying by a site run by well-known human rights activist Teesta Setalvad, sabrangindia.in, that that she and her team “would sleep out there and not leave the spot until the team is allowed to go in.” The woman, Madkam Hidme, claims the site, was raped before being gunned down in the fake encounter.
On June 13, the Sukma police announced a “successful” encounter in which a woman Maoist guerrilla was killed in an encounter close to village Gompad, Konta tehsil, Sukma district, the report says. The encounter was carried out a team of the Special Task Force of the Chhattisgarh police. She was identified as belonging to They say she was a member of "Kistaram area platoon No 8."
The police version led to villagers to call up Sori and her lawyers, refuting the 'official' version. The villages insisted that Hidme was “not a Naxalite, but a villager, picked up from her home, gang raped by the police and then killed”, with the body “callously returned to the villagers.” 
On hearing this, a fact-finding team on behalf of the AAP, led by Sori, tried to visit the village to investigate the allegations on June 15. The team was stopped and harassed at four different camps on the way, finally they were stopped at four different spots and finally denied permission at the Injeram Camp, just 10 km short of the village.
Sori and others thereafter returned back to Sukma in the evening to meet the collector and SP. As no one was available at the office, ASP, Sukma Santosh Singh, met the team and told them that they “cannot be allowed inside without personnel from the security forces”. The team then asked officials to send some personnel with them, but the ASP said no one was available.
In protest, Sori and others decided to camp/do a dharna at the collectorate itself until they are allowed to go in. According to one Himanshu Kumar from Gompad village, Hidme was thrashing paddy outside her hut when she was picked up by the police and “bad things were done to her before she was shot in cold blood.”
Commenting on the photograph of the body of Hidme being circulated by the Chhattisgarh police, sabrangindia.in said, one has to “look closely” as to how “the weapon (bharmar) has been placed strategically next to her body.”
Also, the uniform Hidme is wearing is “brand new and crisp”, the cut looks “high fashion if we ignore the cheap fabric. Can the uniform of a Maoist guerrilla who was killed in an encounter be so unblemished?” The site quotes a person who has been in Chhattisgarh Maoist guerrillas haven't ever wore such “a spotless (and crisp) uniform.”

Comments

TRENDING

Importance of Bangladesh for India amidst 'growing might' of China in South Asia

By Samara Ashrat*  The basic key factor behind the geopolitical importance of Bangladesh is its geographical location. The country shares land borders with Myanmar and India. Due to its geographical position, Bangladesh is a natural link between South Asia and Southeast Asia.  The country is also a vital geopolitical ally to India, in that it has the potential to facilitate greater integration between Northeast India and Mainland India. Not only that, due to its open access to the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh has become significant to both China and the US.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

'BBC film shows only tip of iceberg': Sanjiv Bhatt's daughter speaks at top US press club

By Our Representative   The United States' premier journalists' organisation, the National Press Club (NPC), has come down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for recent "attacks on journalists in India." Speaking at the screening of an episode of the BBC documentary “India: The Modi Question,” banned in India, in the club premises, NPC President Eileen O’Reilly said, “Since Modi came to power we have watched with frustration and disappointment as his regime has suppressed the rights of its citizens to a free and independent news media."

Chinese pressure? Left stateless, Rohingya crisis result of Myanmar citizenship law

By Dr Shakuntala Bhabani*  A 22-member team of Myanmar immigration officials visited Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar to verify more than 400 Rohingya refugees as part of a pilot repatriation project. Does it hold out any hope for the forcibly displaced people to return to their ancestral homes in the Rakhine state of Myanmar? Only time will tell.

China ties up with India, Bangladesh to repatriate Rohingyas; Myanmar unwilling

By Harunur Rasid*  We now have a new hope, thanks to news reports that were published in the Bangladeshi dailies recently. Myanmar has suddenly taken initiatives to repatriate Rohingyas. As part of this initiative, diplomats from eight countries posted in Yangon were flown to Rakhine last week. Among them were diplomats from Bangladesh, India and China.

Natural farming: Hamirpur leads the way to 'huge improvement' in nutrition, livelihood

By Bharat Dogra*  Santosh is a dedicated farmer who along with his wife Chunni Devi worked very hard in recent months to convert a small patch of unproductive land into a lush green, multi-layer vegetable garden. This has ensured year-round supply of organically grown vegetables to his family as well as fetched several thousand rupees in cash sales.

Over-stressed? As Naveen Patnaik turns frail, Odisha 'moves closer' to leadership crisis

By Sudhansu R Das  Not a single leader in Odisha is visible in the horizon who can replace Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. He has ruled Odisha for nearly two and half decades. His father, Biju Patnaik, had built Odisha; he was a daring pilot who saved the life of Indonesia’s Prime Minister Sjahrir and President Sukarno when the Dutch army blocked their exit.

Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, Ban Ki-moon, others ask Bangladesh PM to 'protect' Yunus

Counterview Desk  A campaign has been launched to support Bangladesh-based economist, micro-finance guru and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, seeking signatures from citizens across the globe in order to “protect” his work, life and safety.

Electricity sharing opens up new window for India’s eastern neighbourhood engagement

By Sufian Asif* Today, challenges like climate change, pandemics, energy reliance, economic crisis, and many more are concerning us. No nation can overcome these obstacles without the assistance and collaboration of other nations. Most importantly, many of these problems have international repercussions. South Asia is facing much more difficulty when compared to other regions. In South Asia, we have some regional organizations, but they are ineffective.