In a disturbing development, Naxals have begun drafting children in their combat units to fight the security forces.
The shocking disclosure was made by a platoon commander of the outlawed CPI (Maoist), police sources said on Tuesday.
Madkami Devi, commander of platoon number eight, active in Pamed, Basaguda and Usur areas in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, was arrested last week at Cherla in Andhra Pradesh’s Khammam district. A team of Chhattisgarh police who was trailing her apprehended her with the help of local police at Cherla, nearly 8 km from Pamed in Bijapur district.
“Madkami, who has a reward of `10,000 on her head and five warrants pending against her for execution, revealed that the Maoists have started engaging children aged 12-16 years in combat action with security forces. The minors have been drafted in small action teams (SATs), established by the Naxals recently to hit their high profile targets effectively,” Bijapur district additional superintendent of police (ASP) Ashok Singh told this newspaper.
“Earlier, Maoists used to employ children as couriers to send messages from one group to another, as informers to monitor movements of forces in jungles and as cooks in their camps. We have of late been getting information that children have also been used for combat action by the Naxals. But, the woman ultra has confirmed this. It is a worrying sign,” he added.
Sources said the police got the wind of the Maoists’ latest strategy when a 14-year-old boy was arrested recently by Bijapur police for his alleged involvement in Naxal violence following a tip off. Later, the minor confessed to his involvement in triggering landmine blast at Tedupalli under Bhopalpatnam in Bijapur district in June last targeting a convoy carrying the then district collector Rajat Kumar and local MLA Mahesh Gagda in June this year.
Although, both the collector and MLA escaped miraculously, six policemen travelling in another vehicle in the convoy were killed in the explosion.
“The boy, who was trained in use of landmine by Naxals, confessed that he had triggered the blast,” Mr Singh said.
Police sources quoting the woman ultras said the rebels imparted arms training to minors and then draft in the SATs to avoid police attention.