‘Police brutality led to abduction’
The Naxals, through their two intermediaries — B.D. Sharma and Prof. Hargopal — have for the first time spelt out why they kidnapped Sukma collector Alex Paul Menon, and this has been conveyed to the state government after their return from detailed deliberations with the Maoists in the jungles of South Bastar.
Sources in the state’s security establishment revealed that the Naxals were extremely upset about increasing “police brutalities” against tribals in Sukma region.
The tribals had repeatedly complained to the collector but he failed to initiate any concrete steps to check the harassment of tribals by the local police.
The Naxals also gave at least two specific examples of “police brutality” to their interlocutors to be conveyed to the state government.
In the first instance a tribal woman, Soni Sodi, was “tortured and harassed” by the police last year for raising issues concerning the local tribal population. Soni, an activist, had been actively campaigning for tribal rights in the entire Bastar region. But instead she was detained by the local police and harassed for being a Naxal sympathiser. A big delegation comprising local tribal residents went to Mr Menon and complained against the local SP, Ankit Garg, sources said.
But instead of initiating action against Mr Garg, the collector recommended the President’s Police Medal for the officer.
In the second incident, sources said, the police picked up a local tribal, Podian Mada, for questioning in connection with Maoist violence in the region.
But he died in police custody, allegedly due to torture, but the police made it out as a case of suicide and claimed Mada hanged himself in the police station. In this case, too, no disciplinary action was taken against the policemen allegedly involved.
The Naxal interlocutors have conveyed to their counterparts that Mr Menon’s kidnapping was a retaliatory move.
“The state government has given a categorical assurance to the two interlocutors that there will be no human rights violations in the tribal dominated areas. In fact, the government is even willing to put in place a legal or a constitutional mechanism,’’ an official said.
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